


Use Your Words

by CrystalHopeDragon



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Ash Ketchum being a bamf, Gou is wonderful and supportive and I love him, Hurt/Comfort, Latent platonic pikashipping, M/M, Pikachu being a bamf, Temporary Character Death, why does Ash Ketchum die so much?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 00:55:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 28,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21828658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrystalHopeDragon/pseuds/CrystalHopeDragon
Summary: No one ever understands Ash. Seriously, the boy is terrible at explanations. No wonder no one has figured out he can talk to Pokémon yet. Well in comes Gou, who through sheer perseverance has become a translator of Ash.
Relationships: Satoshi | Ash Ketchum/Gou
Comments: 282
Kudos: 1403
Collections: Purrsonal Picks





	1. Chapter 1

This story is in snippets scattered throughout the show. We start with Lucario and the Mystery of Mew. Have fun!

———

‘Near death experiences shouldn’t be a familiar feeling.’ Was the last thing Ash thought as he slipped from consciousness, absorbed by the tree. 

“Pi-ka-piiiii!” ‘He uses that phrase a lot.’ Was the first thing he thought as he slowly faded back into reality from the emptiness that was near death. Between the chaos that followed their revival and the pain of loosing Lucario the thought slipped from his mind pretty easily though. He’d all but forgotten it completely actually, until one morning not long after when Pikachu was waking him up, as usual. And as usual, he heard that phrase again. “Pi-ka-piiii.” He heard in an annoyed tone. 

He blinked blearily, rubbing his eyes, letting the thought sink in again. “You say that to me a lot. Is it my name or something?” He asked while yawning. Pikachu blinked in surprise before nodding. “Wait, really?!” He asked excitedly, suddenly awake. “How do I say yours then?”

Pikachu watched him warily, before responding. “Pi-KAA-chu.”

Ash blinked in confusion. “What’s the difference between that and every other Pikachu?”

Pikachu watched him, more exasperated this time. “Pi-KAAAAA-chu.” He said again, adding extra emphasis on the middle sound this time.

“The KAA?” Ash asked, blinking. “It’s...bigger? Louder?” He asked, uncertainly.

Pikachu just nodded in response, smiling at him. “Do all words work like that for you? Louder or longer sounds instead of different ones?”

“Pi!” He shouted in joy, clapping his hands.

Ash was too distracted to enjoy the praise however, realization sinking in. “That’s how you say yes, isn’t it?” 

“Pi!” He heard again. It was sinking in, really sinking in. He could learn this, really learn it. He talked with his buddy all the time, but wouldn’t it be great if he really knew what he was saying back? Not just the tone or meaning, but the actual words?! 

“This is great!” He shouted in excitement, jumping up and spinning Pikachu excitedly. Pikachu seemed to share his enthusiasm, sparking with joy at the realization of what was about to change.

“Brock!” Ash shouted, rushing over to the campsites table where his friend was just finishing with the breakfast setup. “Listen, listen, we can understand Pokemon!”

Brock just smiled indulgently, setting the fruit salad out. “Yes? You’ve always been good at that.”

“But-but we can learn more! The tone, and how they say things, if you listen you can hear more!” He shouted excitedly.

“That’s good to hear. I’m glad you’re understanding each other better.” Brock smiled at them. “Now sit down and eat, we need to head out early if we want to get to the next town before sunset.” 

“But you don’t get it!” Ash pouted, frustrated.

“I get it fine, now sit and eat.” He grumbled but complied. He tried again with May and Max, but neither of them understood what he was saying either. This was big, they could learn their language! Why didn’t they get it was big?! It was like he was the one with the translation barrier or something. 

No one ever got what he was saying though. Time passed, May and Max moved on, they met Dawn. She asked him one time about how well he communicated with Pikachu, and he told her. Told her the same thing about inflection and tone he told the others. Somehow she misunderstood too though. Everyone seemed to think he was just talking about knowing their emotions, not their words, and he didn’t get why! Was he that bad at talking?! By Unova he stopped bothering to explain it. Iris actually did understand her Pokémon pretty well, though by tone and not language, as did Cilan, so they didn’t even question it. Serena and Clemont did ask in Kalos, but they didn’t get his explanation either. Everyone bonded better with their Pokémon after he told them, but no one ever really got what HE was saying. 

He honestly didn’t care by Alola. He’d figured the language out pretty well. Even Pokémon that could use four syllables generally stuck to three, since that’s the maximum most Pokémon can use. A single syllable is usually a verb, two a noun, three a noun with an adjective. That can change based on the number of syllables of course, but it’s generally that way. The length of the syllable and how sharp or soft it’s said effects what it means, as does the tone. “Pi!” Can mean yes, but it can also mean Ass, as Meowth so helpfully elaborated one time. The other humans never got what he was saying, but this was one time where Meowth being around was useful. He helped fill in the blanks that Ash and Pikachu had trouble doing on their own.

———

Then he met Gou. Gou, who even though he was weaker and less experienced had jumped onto a Lugia. Gou, who had declared them friends as his first words to Ash, even before they introduced themselves. Gou, who was socially awkward at best even though he adored being close to others. 

He was different then Ash’s other friends. Maybe it was his dream. After all, it was the first time he’d met someone who’s dream was as big as his. 

...or maybe it was the fact Gou actually listened to him, put in the effort to figure out what he meant. Serena had said she liked him, and even she didn’t bother doing that most days. 

“What do you mean you can’t dance?”

“I can never figure out how to line my movements with the music.” Ash groaned, burying his face in his hands.

Gou just looked at him in confusion. Ash looked away, expecting the same old reaction. ‘Why not?’ ‘It’s easy!’ ‘I’ll show you how.’ “Why bother?”

Ash blinked, startled. “What?”

“You don’t have to be able to keep time with music to dance, you just have to keep internal rhythm. Sure it doesn’t look as nice as matching the beat, but it is easier. It’s even easier with a partner as all you have to do is match them. You do that in battle all the time, right? Matching your Pokémon’s moves? Just do that while dancing. Ignore the music, match your partner.”

Ash stopped, staring at him. “That might just work.”

“Of course it will.” Gou says with a hint of pride. “I came up with it. We can test it if you want?” He asked awkwardly, fiddling with the music on his phone until he found a ballroom song. Something upbeat.

Ash lit up. “Sure!” And they danced. It was sloppy, but coordinated, with Pikachu running around them cheering. It had the same exhilarating feel as a battle, step by step matching an opponent, and Ash loved every moment of it. He looked up to see Gou grinning, sweaty and tired from keeping up but definitely having fun, and he felt his heart go soft. He might just end up following this one, if he wasn’t willing to follow him. No one else but Pikachu had ever tried to understand him like this, after all. 

And being with Gou did help him grow. Even when going through towns he’d been through before, he always learned new things with Gou around. Things no one else noticed, or bothered to tell him. Like with the Ivysaur using sweet scent before evolving! He was always learning something new, things he was never good at learning in a classroom (he always got sleepy, and then nothing stuck). So even if he followed Gou to places he’d been before, it’d be worth it, for the new things he’d learn. After all, he’d need to know a lot more about Pokémon if he wanted to be the master, right? He couldn’t be the best at bringing out their true potential if he didn’t know what it was. 

And the first few days with Gou went like that, a whirlwind of new information and experiences and fun. Not long after they met Scorbunny though, when they were all getting ready for bed and Pikachu had just reminded him to set the alarm, Gou looked at them sharply. And then the usual question came.

“How do you understand them so well? Especially him.” 

Ash groaned, sitting down. “Not this again. Don’t make me, no one ever gets what I’m saying.”

Gou just raised an eyebrow. “Try me.”

“The tone! The tone and-and the longer sounds, and the shorter sounds! The way they say it means things too!” He tried to get out. He understood what he knew, but it was so much harder to explain. Scorbunny had turned to him in shock, getting exactly what he was saying though. He hadn’t realized the human could actually speak their language, he’d been so focused on his own human.

Gou just watched him though, eyes calculating. He glanced at Pikachu, who gave an encouraging sounding, “KAA, pi, KAA.” But no, that wasn’t encouragement. He kept focusing on the kaa sound. 

“The way they say the syllable has as much meaning as the syllable itself.” He starts with.

“Yes!” Ash responded, looking relieved. Someone got it!

“And you’ve broken down what each of those sounds mean with your Pikachu’s help?” 

“Pi!” Pikachu pitched in, excited. 

“So that means yes?” He asks, now watching Pikachu.

“Pi!” 

“Finally!” Ash shouts in triumph, collapsing backwards on his bed.

“You LEARNED how to talk Pokemon, and never told anyone?” Gou asks with a raised eyebrow.

“I tried! They never got it.” Ash groans, covering his face.

Gou just snorts. “Of course they didn’t, your idea of an explanation is a jumble of excited words. I just happen to know how to translate Ash. And starting tomorrow I get the exhilarating new task of figuring out how to translate from Pikachu to Ash, and then from Ash to human.” He finishes with a snicker.

“Wait, what?” Ash asks, sitting up to watch him.

“Dude, you figured out how to talk to Pokemon. This is one of the most amazing achievements of the decade, of COURSE we are writing it down.” Gou grins, sitting beside him. Scorbunny, still in shock, jumps into his lap so he can scrutinize the other human up close. Pikachu just glares at Scorbunny in response. 

Ash just watches him in wonder. “I think I’m in love.”

Gou’s eyes widen, a blush spreading at a rapid rate across his face. “Wha-HOW can you just say something like that?” He asks, glancing away, hand coming to cover his mouth.

Ash is blushing too at this point but he doesn’t let it stop him. “Because you’re amazing, and you listen to us, and I love you.” He grins. 

Gou just snorts. “You’re the amazing one.”

“Then we’re perfect for each other!”

Gou grins, still looking away. “I suppose we are.”

Meanwhile, while they are having this heartfelt moment, Pikachu was grinning mischievously at Scorbunny. Scorbunny, who groans, climbs down to the dresser and fetches his midnight snack, tossing the Pecha berry to the delighted Pikachu. 

“I thought you said your human was always oblivious? How did you know he’d confess first?”

Pikachu snorted. “Easy. He never noticed people liking him before. This time he liked someone else though. He’s oblivious to the world around him, not himself.” He responds with a grin, happily munching on the snack he didn’t have to move for. Ah, such an easy to win bet.

“You never said-you lied to me! You rigged this!”

“I never lied, I just didn’t say everything. Maybe if you stopped hitting my human and listened to him you would have noticed yourself.” Pikachu threw in, showing no remorse as he kept eating.

It’s a good thing Gou hadn’t learnt Pokémon yet, as the response Pikachu received would’ve made a sailor faint. Simply put though, when you fight villains as a hobby, you’ve heard worse. Pikachu just kept on munching.


	2. Thanks for the assist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a little snippet that didn’t fit well into the first chapter. This is how Ash learned the meaning of Pi-KAA-chu’s name.

“Pi-KAA-chu.” He said again, for the fifteenth time, before lightly sparking his cheeks.

“Jolt, bolt, glimmer, shimmer, sparkles?” Ask guessed, cringing as Pikachu got more frustrated. “What?! This isn’t easy! A lot of words can be used for what you are doing right now, you know!”

Pikachu grumbled but conceded. There had to be a solution here. He knew that his name was a pretty common word, easily changed for many others, but it shouldn’t be THIS hard to get his human to understand it. Before they could continue though the earth began to rumble and crack as a robot emerged, the Team Rocket motto flowing out. 

Pikachu just grinned. That worked.

Before they could even advance he’d volt tackled the new robot, using momentum more then electricity to knock it over. He then raced to the cockpit, iron tailed it open, and bit/grabbed Meowth by the tail, pulling.

“Owowow, what?! What’s this all about?” He asked in confusion, as if they hadn’t been the ones to start the conflict. 

“My human is bad at this, I can’t translate well, tell him my NAME!” He shouted in Poke, dragging him over. 

“I...I guess he doesn’t know yer name, huh? Humans can’t speak Poke.” Meowth blinks, looking them over. They’d known each other so long but he’s never even thought about that. They do always seem to understand each other, after all. “Hey twerp!” He shouts as they get closer. Ash just watches cautiously, not trusting. “His name’s Twinkle!”

Ash glances between them, then groans. “How was I supposed to guess that!”

“Beats me.” Meowth shrugs, before yelping as he was sent flying towards his team with an iron tail.

“Thanks!” Pikachu called after, before thunderbolting them into the skyline. Neither of them even blink in surprise as the villains vanish in the distance.

“I’m sticking with calling you Pi-KAA-chu. You’re name doesn’t sound as cool in human.” Ash throws in. Twinkle wonders if he should tell his human his name doesn’t sound cool in any language. Blame overly saccharine Kangaskhan mother’s.


	3. Aura Sphere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gou finds out Ash can use moves. The discussion is enlightening for both of them.

Watching Ash train was always a treat. He got far more involved then any trainer Gou had ever heard of. He would do their exercises with them, he would take the Pokémon’s attacks himself. He even tried to show them how to do the moves better, even if he himself couldn’t actually do them. Gou always had trouble figuring out his methods, but his Pokémon got it, so he supposed that was good enough. Today was odd though. 

This was Ash’s first time training with Riolu, and he was trying to help him improve his aim with Vacuum Wave. They’d done basic things like hit targets, but when he tried to get him to curve the move or redirect his aim last minute, the young Pokémon tended to stumble. Ash’s movements just didn’t express how the move was supposed to go after release, which made this bit hard to teach. Gou was actually curious if Ash could teach this at all without an example. Right as he was wondering that, Ash got up with a sigh, popping his back.

“One sec, I’ll be right back. I have a better idea.” And Gou watched in confusion as he walked away. That was odd, Ash didn’t usually use props. Was he getting a video or something? Maybe grab Pikachu from his game of tag, since Pikachu obviously knew this? 

Surprisingly, when Ash returned, all he was packing was a couple frisbee and a pair of odd gloves. “Hey, Dragonite!” Ash called to his nearby Pokémon. “Throw this for me when I ask!” And he tossed the Pokémon a frisbee, setting the other down nearby. He turned to Riolu. “Okay, I’m going to show you how it’s done.” He said as he put the gloves on. Gou raised an eyebrow. How exactly? “When you see an enemy coming from the side, and you were about to release an attack, this is how you redirect.” He said as he put his arms in front of him, palms outstretched side by side. “Now, Dragonite! Curve it!” Dragonite did as requested, throwing the frisbee from the air at an odd angle, coming from Ash’s left. 

Gou was still confused how he’d hit it, until before his very eyes, a blue sphere started to build in Ash’s hands. He looked to the left, feigning shock, before swiveling his feet in a very deliberate motion to maintain balance as he spun. The move was released at an angle, spinning in a curve to hit the frisbee. The frisbee promptly exploded. 

The Riolu clapped in delight. Gou just continued to gape. “Now you try!” And sure enough, after about three more tries, the Riolu got Vacuum Wave to curve as he wanted. He cheered and jumped as Ash grinned, putting his hand out for a high five that the Pokémon happily returned. Riolu then looked determined, taking off into the Lab’s forest - most likely to pick a fight. “Good luck!” Was all Ash shouted, letting him go and make his own mistakes. 

This was enough to snap Gou out of his trance. “What-but-how?!” He finally spluttered out, looking at his boyfriend in pure confusion.

“How what?” Ash asked back, surprised, as he took the gloves off.

“That-that was a Pokémon move! How did you use a Pokémon move?! Did the gloves help?” He asked, zooming in on the accessory Ash grabbed.

“A little?” Ash answered, brow furrowed in confusion. “They help me-focus, I think? It’s really hard to use the move without them. I can do it! It just takes longer, and I needed to do this step quickly to show him. I didn’t have time to stand there and build it for three minutes. You are right though, I should do some practice of my own.” He said as he tucked the gloves away, getting back into stance. 

Gou blinked, gobsmacked. “That’s not the problem here! How did you use a Pokémon move? You’re not a Pokémon!”

Ash looked at him for a moment before bursting out laughing. It lasted so long he had to bend over, wheezing. Gou was red faced from embarrassment, but he wasn’t backing down. “You’re silly.” Ash giggled out as he regained his breath. “Of course I’m a Pokémon. We’re all Pokémon, what else would we be?”

“Humans?” Gou asked with a raised brow.

“Well yeah, that too. But that’s what KIND of Pokémon we are. Just like Pikachu’s a Pikachu.” Ash said with a grin, standing up straight again.

“What-WHO told you that?” Gou asked, confused.

“Uh-“ Ash stopped, blinking, almost as if he forgot. Then Ash paled a bit, not having wanted to bring this bit up. “Mew?” He pitched in carefully.

Gou was suddenly red. “And when did you have an in-depth discussion with a Mew?” 

“The Tree of Beginning.” Ash said with a pout, dropping down to sit. He obviously wasn’t going to get any training done now. Gou sat beside him, unprompted. “Same time as I got these gloves.”

“Mew gave you the gloves?” Gou asked incredulously.

“No.” Ash responded sadly, taking them out and clutching them to his chest. “Lucario did, right before he...faded out.”

“What?” Gou asked in confusion. What could that possibly mean?

“Died. Right before he died.” And suddenly Gou had no words. His boyfriend...watched someone die? “I made a friend from another time, who got trapped in his pokeball. I was separated from Pikachu for a bit, cause that Mew thought he was fun and took off with him. Lucario came with to help me find him, even though he didn’t like me - didn’t like any humans after what he thought his old trainer did.” Gou furrowed his brows at that. When...when did all this happen? “We went to the Tree of Beginning though to get Pikachu back, and found out on the way that the bad thing he thought his trainer did was fake. He’d lied to him to protect him, and had gone and sacrificed himself to the tree to end a war. When we went into the tree though, we kept getting eaten by its guards. Mew let us go, but that messed with the tree. Then Lucario sacrificed himself to fix the tree with his aura, giving me his trainers old gloves we had found in the tree.” He responded, clutching the gloves to his chest.

“Where did this happen? I’ve never heard of that tree.” Gou asked calmly. He wanted to comfort Ash, but he really needed some context here. So much was just said - Ash never talked about his past, he didn’t even know how to process the sudden change, much less what he’d said. 

“Here in Kanto?” Ash intoned softly. “I can’t remember the town, we went through a lot of them. There was a castle nearby though, with a princess.”

“Kanto hasn’t had a war in nearly a millennia.” Gou responded, confused.

“Yeah, that’s the one. Sir Aaron trapped Lucario in his weird old Pokeball, then ended the war.” Ash continued as he softly rubbed the gloves. The gloves Gou was trying not to think about, now that he realized they were flipping ancient. 

“Have you talked to anyone about this? That’s...that’s a pretty traumatic experience.” Ash shrugged.

“Not really. I didn’t want to put Mew in danger, so I try not to tell anyone I don’t trust.” And Gou felt his heart swell at that, catching the implication. “That Mew was tied to the tree, if someone tries to take him they both die. And things go bad if that tree dies. I don’t get it all, but it’s important.” Gou bet it was, and had every intention to study it later. For now though, his boyfriend needed him. 

“I’m sure it is. You are too though. Has this been bothering you?” He asked carefully. Ash just looked away, confirming his suspicion. Gou sighed. “Look, I’m not a councilor. You need one, but I get why you don’t want one, given the importance of your secrets.” That Gou was beginning to suspect he had a lot of. “But if you ever need to talk - you know I’m here, right? I can’t promise I can fix the problem, but I’ll always listen.” And Ash teared up at that, tackling him. 

“I know.” He mumbled, clinging to him.

Gou sighed. “Good.” He patted his back. “Now, onto a slightly more cheerful topic. We are Pokemon?”

Ash perked up at that. “Yeah? Isn’t that common knowledge?”

Gou sighed. “No. No, it’s really not. The prevailing theory is that we branched off from some different species that has since gone extinct. We barely even have the same reproductive method as Pokémon, the only similarity being the eggs.” 

Ash tilted his head in confusion. “We lay eggs?” Gou gaped.

“Of course we lay- how do you know all these ridiculous secrets, but not know where babies come from?!” 

Ash shrugged. “Mew just told me the humans are Pokémon thing when I asked why I could use that move. It explained why. I just thought it was common knowledge that I hadn’t heard yet. I mean, I’ve seen other humans use moves before.” 

The exasperation was wearing off, being slowly replaced with excitement. Wait a minute. Wait one gosh darn minute. “Who exactly have you seen using moves?”

Ash tilted his head. “Gym leaders, mainly? Yeah, a lot of gym leaders. Most psychic types could use psychic moves. I met a couple fighting type gym leaders that I’m pretty sure were using moves too.” 

“So you could take me to them? The people using Pokémon moves?” Ash grimaced, but nodded.

“Sure, but can we go to Hoenn for that? Or Kalos? I try to, uh, avoid our local psychic user. Our first meeting wasn’t fun.” Gou tucked that away for further questioning, but he had more important questions for now.

“Then we have a new project. Come on, we need to tell the professor!” He said as he grabbed Ash’s hand, dragging him along. 

“This is important?” Gou sighed, for what he was sure wasn’t the last time, in exasperation.

“Yes Ash. The true lineage of our species and proof of our capabilities is very important.”


	4. Champion sized surprises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ash and Gou decide to visit Alola. Gou is sure his boyfriend will never fail to surprise him; this region only confirms that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, notes for this chapter! Ash is 13 in my head cannon, as is Gou. Each league takes four months in my theory, and Ash has been through roughly nine of them, if we count the Orange Islands and Battle Frontier. The reason Gou never left on his journey before he met Ash is because he kept refusing his starter as he searched for Mew, and he couldn’t leave home without a Pokémon. Thus he continued school, leveling him with different social expectations then in he left home right away, which is why Koharu is so strict with him. She expected him to follow the education path; he never intended to. She misunderstood his intentions because of his actions, as do most people. Her dad got it though, which is why he kept offering him a Pokémon. This is the first chapter where I’m throwing a theory in that has no basis in the show; what it is you’ll see. Most of this stuff actually happened, the bit with the marks is all me though. Hope you like it!

There were a lot of things Gou needed to research after his most recent heart to heart with his boyfriend. For one, humans were Pokémon. As such, they could use moves. Pokéball’s could be used as a storage space for over a thousand years, and o yeah, there was a kind of pokeball that existed over a thousand years ago. Humans had items that could help them with their moves, just like Pokémon, as Ash’s gloves proved. Ash had also recently mentioned a flower that could store memories, something he knew an entire field of professors that would kill over. Not to mention they were still working on his Pokémon language translations. 

There was something else he just noticed though. Even after all that, Ash presented him with something new that made him put all that, even his Pokémon language studies, on the back burner. 

“Ash, what are those?”

“What are what?” He asked in surprise, looking at his chest where Gou was pointing. He’d just taken his shirt off, and Gou was surprised to realize after two months of living with the boy he’d never seen him shirtless. They didn’t normally change in front of each other after all, and it was winter in Kanto. They were currently visiting Alola though, at Ash’s insistence, and the first thing he wanted to do upon exiting the airport was go for a swim. So here they were, standing at the beach, while Gou stared at the pale tattoo’s covering his boyfriend’s entire chest and back, slowly spreading towards his limbs. 

Gou just raised an eyebrow at his response, looking down.

“O, the marks? No clue. They’ve just been popping up the last couple years! Professor Kukui called them the ‘marks of battle’ or something. I didn’t really catch it all.” He said with a shrug, turning towards the ocean.

“Wait-wait wait! Don’t turn away like this is nothing! Are they scars?” He asked, startled.

Ash blinked, completely baffled. “No? At least, I don’t think they are. If I’d have any kind of scars this big, they’d look like Pikachu’s electricity.” He heard a sharp “Kaa!” In rebuke in the background. “They would too!” Raboot just snickered, already relaxing in the sand. 

Gou was still focused on the marks though. “So, what ARE they then?”

Ash just shrugged. “Ask Professor Kukui, he knows more on them. We are going to see him later after all. For now though, let’s swim! It won’t be warm enough to do this back home for months!” 

So in fond exasperation, Gou put the thought aside for now. His boyfriend wanted to play, so they’d play. Ash was right, they did need a bit of fun, and those marks didn’t seem to be traumatic or life threatening. So despite the many questions, Gou went out to play. They’d do work after.

———

If Gou thought he had questions before, he truly had no idea what was in store for him at the Pokémon school. Upon walking through the gate, they got bombarded by large, rare Pokémon native to the region. He was concerned at first until he noticed Ash laughing in delight, so he stood back and relaxed, watching them play. It seemed to be a greeting of theirs.

“And who are these guys?” He asked in amusement.

“My Pokémon! I’ve missed you all so much!” He said with a grin, rubbing his face into Lycanroc’s fur. That startled Gou again.

“What?” 

“My Pokémon,” Ash repeated. “From when I lived in Alola. Come on, everyone else must still be in class!” And Ash was rushing ahead again, of course.

Gou didn’t think his boyfriend would ever manage to stop surprising him. He was looking at the bizarre Pokémon -who followed their trainer like he was the sun- with sheer amazement in his eyes. The Pokémon consisted of a fully evolved Incineroar, a Lycanroc that looked nothing like the photos he’d seen, a Pokémon he’d never even heard of before, and a Rowlett who had just fallen back asleep inside the nut on its stomach. Nothing about this was common, but maybe that should have been his sign his boyfriend was involved.

“Hey everyone!” His boyfriend shouted as they entered a classroom. Gou wanted to shush him -you don’t just shout in a school- but quickly realized there was no need.

Inside the room was wild as well, and nothing like any class Gou had ever seen. There were four kids in the class he’d headed to, smaller then any class Gou had been in. Alola had such a small population in comparison to Kanto however, so he guessed it made sense. Even stranger then that though was that everyone’s Pokémon were out and just - playing around. And they weren’t exactly small Pokémon either. How you study with a Turtonator and a Primarina in the classroom was anyone’s guess. 

Pikachu was promptly tackled by an overzealous Togedemaru upon entering, who seemed thrilled to see him. Everyone else crowded around Ash, ecstatic.

There was a chorus of, “You’re back!” And “Welcome home!” But one response stood out.

The red haired boy had laughed brightly. “I wasn’t expecting you back until the league. Can I get my rematch early then?” 

Ash just grinned back. “You bet!”

“The league?” Gou pitched in, curious.

Ash slapped his fist in his hand, gasping. “Right! Everyone, this is Gou, my boyfriend! Gou, these are my friends from Alola!” He said with pride, arms spread. The whole room froze for a minute, except for Gou. He just started turning the color of Pikachu’s cheeks. 

And suddenly he was the one crowded. “Who are you?” “Where are you from?” “How’d you meet Ash?”

And this time a different kid stood out. While he was getting bombarded with questions, lost for words, the blue haired girl was standing to the side snickering. Eventually Gou got annoyed, and pitched in an agitated, “What?”

She giggled harder. “Nothing, nothing. Just - congrats. You’re a miracle worker. We honestly thought he couldn’t see past the Pokémon.”

The green haired girl giggled too, pitching in. “Right?! Lily followed him around for months trying to get his attention, we always thought he didn’t notice. Maybe that was his way of being nice though?”

Ash tilted his head, confused. “What?”

The blue haired girl nodded stoically. “We were right, he didn’t. So our point stands.” She clapped him on the shoulder, nodding. “You’re one in a million, be proud of that.” 

Gou was completely lost. “WHAT?”

It took a while for the banter to calm down into something understandable, but Gou eventually got the gist of it. So it turns out that Ash had been heavily pursued by many, many girls over the years and even a few guys, but had been so oblivious that he never caught on. Some of them these friends met, but many of them they were told about by old friends of his. There had even been a sibling rivalry between two of their friends for his affection, and he just never caught on. They finally gave up before they parted ways on a new journey, with him still never figuring it out. Ash spent the whole conversation gaping at them, confused.

“I never noticed!”

“We know!” Was chorused back. 

Gou was just laughing. “I don’t think he does notice that kind of thing, really. You’re right, romantic gestures -even mine- tend to slip right over his head. If he hadn’t confessed to me, I don’t think we would have ever gotten together.”

The girls and Sophocles -they had finally introduced themselves- cooed. “How romantic.” Malo sighed. 

“What is?” Gou asked, eyebrow raised.

She giggled. “Someone getting that oblivious soul to fall for them. You must be quite a catch. How DID you two meet again?”

“On Lugia.” Ash piped in, grinning. Aaaand the next round of questions resumed. 

The professor had spent this entire time standing to the side, just grinning at the reunion. When Ash finally managed to extract himself from the pile -leaving Gou to suffer alone for a minute- he ran in for a hug.

“Hey.”

“Hey kiddo. Having fun?” He asked, ruffling his hair with his hat.

“You bet!” He responds with a grin. “I brought Gou to visit, like I said I would.”

Professor Kukui laughed. “He seems as enthusiastic as you described. What did you all come to research then?” 

“Z-moves! He’s never seen one, so where better to come then here to the school?” Ash grinned up at him, showing off his own Z-ring. 

The professor laughed. “We’ll finish with an outdoor lesson, then! Everyone, time for battle practice!” He shouted, to which there were cheers in response. Gou just looked at Ash in confusion.

“What kind of school covers battle practice?”

“A Pokémon school!” Ash responded like it explained everything. It really didn’t. 

Sure enough though, they all relocated to a training area outside. Malo and Sophocles headed for an obstacle course first while Kiawe and Lana lined up for their chance to battle. 

“Okay! Who’s first?” The professor boomed enthusiastically. 

“I am!” Kiawe shouted with a grin, stepping forward. “I’ll give this my full power!” Gou just grinned. That energy; no wonder he got along well with Ash. 

“Us too!” Ash shouted back, stepping forward. “Incineroar, want to go?” Ash asked, getting an enthusiastic growl in response. The Pokémon jumped forward, getting in position. 

The professor just grinned, watching Turtonator and Incineroar face off. “Start!” He shouted, and the match began. 

Gou wasn’t sure what Ash’s strategy was when he selected fire vs fire, but he should have known he had a plan. The opposing Pokémon made the mistake of startling off with Flamethrower, which Ash promptly responded to with the command, “Eat it!” 

Gou gawked as Incineroar did just that. (Raboot was suddenly paying rapt attention, eyes wide. Actually...they’d never seen Ash battle with a fire type, had they?) The flame spread through him like a power up as Kiawe cursed, before it returned the favor with a Flame Charge. Unable to repeat Ash’s strategy with that fire move, Kiawe ordered Turtonator to turn around, allowing Ash’s Incineroar to slam into it’s spikes. The Pokémon just jumped instead though, using the momentum to drop from above with a stronger hit, landing on his head. Turtonator groaned as it fell backwards, landing on its spikes. It groaned even more when said spikes exploded. It didn’t injure it further, but it did take that option away.

Kiawe grinned. “You’ve gotten better! Well so have I!”

Ash returned the grin. “I can’t wait to see!” And so they continued. Turtonator used Focus Blast next, since they couldn’t eat that. Ash gave a strange order for that one though. He told Incineroar to block it with Fire Blast. The moves collided in the middle, causing smoke from the explosion. Ash ordered Incineroar to close it’s eyes and follow the sound of movement, then to use Fire Fang.

“O no, none of that here!” Kiawe interrupted the plan. “The zenith of mind, body, and spirit! Become a raging fire and burn! Inferno overdrive!” And out of the smoke the largest blast of fire Gou had ever seen blasted forward, exploding the land around the battlefield -and suddenly Gou realized why a school had such a large battlefield. They all blinked as the smoke cleared though to - no visible sign of Incineroar.

“What in the-“ Kiawe started as Ash just grinned. 

“Now, Fire Fang!” And out of the ground came Incineroar, who attacked from below. The Turtonator tried to evade to no success, taking the move head on. He stumbled, but stayed standing, as Incineroar jumped back. “Now it’s our turn!” And Gou got to see it this time, recording it. See the moves as they stepped in tandem, see the power flow between them. And from that power burst an even larger blast of fire, larger then he’d ever imagined it could be. As the smoke from this one cleared, the professor announced:

“Turtonator is unable to battle, Ash and Incineroar win!” To which everyone cheered, before returning to their activities. 

Kiawe retreated Turtonator before stepping forward with a grin, clasping hands with Ash. “Good to see you didn’t loose your spark! How’d you know he’d learned Dig?! He started doing that after you left!”

Ash just laughed. “He told me of course!” To which Kiawe nodded, sagely.

“Listening to the voice of Pokémon, always a good idea.” Ash’s grin became a bit more forced, but he nodded.

Gou sighed, seeing what just happened. “I’m here now too, remember?” Gou pitched in, stepping forward.

Ash blinked, before his grin widened into something more real again. “Right. Right!” He gasped in delight. “Then tell them!”

Gou turned to Kiawe, smile proud. “When he says he is talking to Pokémon, he’s being literal. He has found a near word for word way to translate them, and has been applying it for years. Ash is Ash though, and I think he has a better time explaining that to the Pokémon then us. We have spent the last couple months writing it down, explaining it together in a way everyone can understand. It’s going to be our first major discovery as researchers.” He says as he pulls out his Rotom phone, turning it to Kiawe so he can see the start of their paper. 

Kiawe blinked, baffled, as Kukui just chuckles. 

“Only you, kid, would find a way to take Pokémon communication so far.” He stepped forward, clapping his hand on his shoulder. “It’s time to celebrate then! That’s one heck of an achievement for your first year as a researcher!” To which Ash cheered in response. They finally got it!

The kids were gathered for a party, and a few other friends of theirs were called as well. (Lana was a bit pouty about not getting her battle, but Ash assured her he would do it after this. They didn’t have to leave immediately, after all.) This was when Gou met the most flamboyant Rotom he’d ever seen, and yeah, it makes sense that he was a good friend of Ash’s. When asked why he never told anyone Ash could communicate with Pokémon, he seemed confused. ‘Couldn’t every human? They always acted like they knew what was going on.’ Gou just sighed. Of course he managed to confuse the Pokémon too, of course.

The professor interrupted the party for a toast, turning to Ash and Gou. “Three cheers to the champion and his new partner, may they always rise higher with each step of their journey!” 

...and though he was pleased with the cheers subconsciously, Gou’s mind had just screeched to a halt. 

“Champion?!”

The congregation blinked, then groaned. “Really Ash?” He heard from Malo, as Lana resumed laughing. 

“Only you would forget to tell your boyfriend your resume.” Kiawe sighed.

Ash seemed startled, blinking. “O yeah. I forgot!” He said, before turning to Gou with a grin. “I won the Alolan Pokémon League this year. I’m Alola’s champion!” 

Gou just gawked. “How do you forget about that?!”

Ash just tilted his head. “Because I met you? Plenty of exciting things were happening, and it just slipped my mind. You were more interesting.” 

There were “aww”s and coos in the background, but Gou didn’t pay them any mind. He was more interested in kissing his amazing boyfriend, who would never fail to surprise him.

Ash seemed surprised as well, after all, that was their first kiss. 

“What’d I say?” He asked, hand on his lips after they parted.

Gou just shook his head, smiling. “Something sweet.” Raboot just snickered, otherwise ignoring the whole affair as he raided the snack table. Pikachu elbowed him though before resuming his cheers. About time his trainer said something smart. He loved him, he did, but man could he be oblivious. 

———

The party ended and the guests left the school, all parting ways with an “Alola” as goodbye. Gou was about to start towards the Pokémon center when Ash grabbed him, following after Kukui and Barnett. “Let’s go! We can stay in our room! It’s a bit crowded, though.” He admits, glancing at all of his Pokémon around them.

“Your room?” Gou asks, baffled.

“They lived with us when they were here.” Barnett piped in. “They were staying with my darling husband before we even met. They helped with the wedding and everything.” She grinned at Gou. “They will always be welcome in our home.”

“They’re family.” Kukui added.

Ash sniffed a bit, but grinned. Pikachu seemed a bit wet eyed as well. “Yeah, we’re family.”

Ash was right though, the sleeping arrangements were tight. Between his five Pokémon (the four local ones Gou found out lived here full time), the Rotom, Gou, Ash, and Raboot, they basically spent the night on top of each other. Still, it was neat seeing how his boyfriend lived during this step of his journey. He wondered how he lived during the rest of it?

———

The next day was mostly work. Ash battled Lana with Pikachu, giving Gou another look at two new Z-moves. (Ash won, of course) He wanted more footage then just this though, so professor Kukui offered him a copy of the footage from the last seasons Pokémon league. He gladly accepted. He watched in awe at the battles his boyfriend had waged, all the combos and strategies he used. He really was amazing, wasn’t he? It wasn’t brute force that won him his battles; It was creativity, and cleverness, and sheer determination. That was the general scheme of things to the bitter end of the league. Then he saw the final battle and he realized, well, his boyfriend and Pikachu weren’t lacking in power either. 

“You took down a legendary.” Gou mentioned later as they ate dinner. 

“Hm?” Ash asked, swallowing. “Which one?”

“Which-what do you mean which one?! How many legendaries have you fought?!” Gou asked incredulously. 

Ash’s face scrunched up before he turned to Pikachu. 

“Buddy? A little help here?” 

Pikachu blinked, finishing the bite he was on, and started listing. Ash repeated any word Gou didn’t understand, as Gou kept writing. There was no time for gawking, this was way too important.

“O, and we raised Nebby.” Ash pitched in at the end after Pikachu had listed every legendary they’d ever fought, or fought beside. 

“Nebby?” Gou asked curious, looking up from his (ridiculously long) list. He’d need to ask for the stories behind it later.

Kukui snickered in the background. “Solgaleo. They named him Nebby. In their defense, he looked like a cute little nebula in his early forms.”

Gou inhaled, breathing deeply before exhaling. No surprise. He’d just get overwhelmed if he kept getting surprised. “Can I meet him?”

———

The answer was yes. The next morning started with them shouting for him, to which he gladly answered. He was thrilled to meet Gou, though confused on the dating thing. After all, his parents were Ash and Pikachu, he’d always just assumed they were dating. Gou was a bit mortified at the concept, but Ash and Pikachu’s just laughed it off.

“You’re silly. We can’t date, we’re two parts of the same soul! You need two souls to date, silly. If you aren’t a full person, how can you date?” Solgaleo understood that. Gou was glad someone did, because that one actually went right over his head.

“What?” 

Ash turned to him. “When you bond with your partner Pokémon, you become one soul, right? How do you date the other half of your soul? It’s like dating a twin, it just doesn’t feel right. You don’t need to anyway, the bond doesn’t get any closer then that.” Considering how emotionally stable that meant his boyfriend was -surprisingly- Gou guessed he could accept always being second fiddle to Pikachu. Still, he thought, glancing at Raboot -who was refusing to look at him- he didn’t think he’d ever get a bond so deep he felt like he shared a soul. It was a bit disheartening, but at least his boyfriend found it.

Solgaleo spent a good few hours with them. He took them to see Ash’s Naganadel, who Gou took a large amount of notes on, as well as on the whole inter-dimensional travel in general. (Seriously, what was his boyfriend doing in Alola?) He left them after that, but promised to visit again.

They needed to leave soon as well actually, though Gou had every intention of returning for more studies. Before that though...

“Professor Kukui?” He called for as they came into the house, Ash heading to pack up. 

“Yeah kiddo?” He said as he turned, ceasing his typing and closing the laptop. Gou appreciated that; not every adult would give you their full attention at a moments notice. 

“I had a question about Ash. He has these marks, the ‘marks of battle’, he called them. He said you knew more about them?” 

Professor Kukui snorted. “Barely.” He sighed, looking up. After a minute though, he turned to grin at Gou. “He’s really something, you know that? It’s like the whole worlds challenging him, and every time he beats another one, it sends something harder. He confirms old legends, helps new discoveries, and never thinks twice about it because he knows he helped someone, so what else matters? That’s a hero, kid. Take good care of him, you won’t find another quite like him.” Gou nodded, he knew that. “As for the marks though? They’re an old legend of their own. I’d never seen it before him, and I didn’t think I would. The only time I’d ever even heard of them was from some of the ancient text in the Alter of the Sunne, which mentions that when a human reaches a certain level of power, the marks would appear as a sign of further growth on the horizon.” 

Gou blinks. “Further growth?”

The professor just shrugs. “I’m still not quite sure what it means either. If it was with a Pokémon, I’d assume evolution of some sort, but we’re human. We don’t exactly evolve.” 

Gou gaped, blinking. He glanced to where his boyfriend was packing their things, baffled, before turning back to Kukui. He paused, inhaled, before turning back to Ash. “Stop packing! We need to stay a bit longer!”

Ash looked down, confused but excited. “Really?! What came up? I thought we had to return with our findings.”

“We will.” Gou agreed. “After I visit the Alter of the Sunne. I’d like to figure out what causes us to evolve before you go ahead and do it.”

Professor Kukui was looked at him now, baffled. For once, so was Ash. “What?”

“My lovely boyfriend forgot to inform the rest of the world of a lot of important things. Like the conversation with a legendary that told him we ARE Pokémon.” Gou sighed. “He thought it was common knowledge.” 

Kukui just gawked. “He would, wouldn’t he?” He mumbled thinking. “So those marks-“

“Probably are a sign of an oncoming evolution, yeah. I’d like to figure some more out about it before it happens though. We don’t even know what happens when it does, since we don’t know anyone else who’s ever had them.”

Ash blinked down at them, confused. “Of course we do; I’ve met like three other people with them.” 

They both whipped around toward him. “You have?” They shouted in unison.

“Yeah?” He pitched in, uncertainly. “I tend to...avoid two of them though. Uh, heh, our first meetings weren’t that great.”

“Avoid...Sabrina? The gym leader in Kanto you don’t like?” Gou asked.

Ash nodded. “Her and Olympia. I got along with Olympia a bit better, but i prefer to avoid them both if I can.”

Gou breathed. “And the third?”

Ash perked up. “O, she’s a friend of mine! She’s actually from around here. Acerola!”

“The ghost girl?” Gou asked uneasily. He’d taken notes on the floating Mimikyu, but had decided not to ask questions during a party. Ash had insisted they have fun after all, it hadn’t been time for work.

“Yep! We went swimming together one time, and I saw her marks. She didn’t know much more on them then I do, though.” He admitted. “Hers are purple instead of brown though!”

“Different types.” Gou said before his brain fully processed it. “We come in different types, and you two are both close to evolving. How far are her marks?”

“The same as mine? They haven’t spread to our arms yet, at least. Sabrina’s and Olympia’s have. Their’s were a pinkish purple, I think.” Ash mentioned, trying hard to focus back. He didn’t usually think about the past; and Gou had been dragging it up an awful lot. 

Gou just nodded. “Okay. I need to get notes on the both of you first. Then we are heading home, submitting this research, and finding Sabrina. I know you don’t like her, but I need more advanced progress in this, and she’s closer to evolving; if she hasn’t already. Maybe we can find some other cultural notes, see if you all are missing something you need to evolve?”

Ash just shrugged. Kukui grinned, standing up. “You kids are going to change the world.”

“That’s the goal.” Gou agreed, hand covering his mouth as he thought.

“I’ll help where I can. Maybe if we keep digging we can find more on this then we already have. You study the new, I’ve got the old.” He pitched in, grinning. Gou looked up, smiling warmly.

“Thanks. I’ll take all the help I can get. Between him and Pikachu and all the things they’ve told me, we might need an army of scientists to research it all.” 

The professor laughed. “Publish half of this, and you’ll get it. I think we might found a field entirely around him at this rate.”

Gou grinned. “We just might.”


	5. How to pester a god

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ash, Gou, and Pikachu ask around about evolution and the marks. They finally get some answers. A.K.A Ash has a lot of connections.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is for you all. You’re sweet. I wasn’t planning to post for a bit but all the reviews gave me encouragement. So here, have some antics and world building.

Ash was scared. Gou wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, honestly. He’d seen his boyfriend excited, happy, nervous, confused, upset, angry; Ash wasn’t exactly lacking in the emoting department. That’s why it caught him by surprise to realize this was the first time he’d seen him scared, even after all they’d been through. 

“How bad exactly was that first meeting?” Gou asked, looking up at the sign for the Saffron City Gym warily. His boyfriend gulped. 

“Pretty bad.” He straightened his back though and marched forward.

Gou blinked in surprise as the doors opened automatically, not expecting that level of tech from such an old looking gym. Wait, didn’t Ash say she had psychic powers though? Gou grimaced, wondering if maybe he’d gone too far with this can of tamato berries. Too late now though, he decided, as he followed his boyfriend. Ash never backs down once he’s settled on something, and Gou had already talked him into this. Besides, they really DID need this info.

Inside the gym was just as spooky, dark colors and flowing drapes giving off plenty of shadows. He’d assume it was a ghost type gym if he didn’t know better. 

“Boo!” 

“Eep!” Gou screamed in surprise as a young woman with long dark green hair appeared suddenly before him. Literally appeared, out of thin air. Upon his exclamation both her and the Haunter beside her burst into giggles. 

“Er, hi Sabrina.” Ash said awkwardly, gently shoving his way between his startled boyfriend and the gym leader, arms spread slightly in defense.

“Ash, it’s great to see you!” She exclaimed in delight. She was smiling, really smiling, not some creepy imitation. He honestly hadn’t expected his and Haunter’s actions to have such long term effects on her as well. (He wasn’t sure how to feel about one of his earliest nightmares having had him as a saving grace. Then again, that’s happened a lot, hasn’t it? At least she seemed different, happier now. Given the circumstances, even if he does want to, he probably shouldn’t hold a grudge. She didn’t actually do him any longterm physical damage (and the emotional was short term) and she seems to have changed for the better.) So grimacing, he charged forward.

“This is my partner Gou. We had some things we were researching, so we need to talk to you.” 

Haunter, who had been circling him making funny faces, floated back a bit in surprise at that. The Gengar and Gastly hanging from the ceiling -waiting for the opertunity to shock them as well- blinked into visibility from surprise. 

“You are researching things?” Sabrina asked in confusion, stepping forward with a squint. Ash stepped back instinctively, and Pikachu beside him outright growled at her approach. Ash may be trying to be civil, but he had no reason to be. She’d hurt HIS other half, after all. He sparked a few times in warning, eyes narrowing in pure fury at this woman. 

Ash cooed softly, picking Pikachu up and placing him on his shoulder so he could pet his head as he continued the discussion. He got it, he did, but they had to talk to her. Gou wanted this info, and he was darn well getting it. She seemed agitated for some reason, confused by their response. How she didn’t get it was beyond him, but he’d always been pretty oblivious, so eh. No room to judge. 

“I was wondering if you knew anything about these?” He asks, pulling down the collar of his shirt on the opposite side of Pikachu, exposing his marks. “You had them ages before I did.” He mentions, eyeing the fact her clothing now covered even more of her. Her legs, hands, and neck had still been visible in her old outfit, but now only her face was visible, and even that she was slightly hiding with a tall v-collar and more flowing hair. Still, he remembered catching glimpses during their battle back then. Glimpses from the edge of her sleeves and collar of what he’d thought at the time to be odd tattoos. 

“You have them too!” She explained in surprise, floating closer to him. She examined the redish-brown marks he was exposing in delight, before floating back with a grin. “You do love to surprise, don’t you?” 

“He really does.” Gou finally pitched in. Given Ash’s reactions, the lady in front of him was the definition of intimidating. Still though, she seemed friendly, and they might just get what they were after. “And he’s had these for a while. Got them about the same time he started using Pokémon moves?” He threw in carefully, judging her reaction.

“Me too!” She agreed with a clap, settling on the ground. “The first one was just a small swirl on my chest. It appeared when I first learned to levitate. I was more focused on the powers though, didn’t give the marks much mind until...recently.” She admitted awkwardly, pulling at her collar; exposing that they were scaling up her cheekbones, already having covered her neck. She tugged her gloves off to reveal her hands completely covered as well. “I’m running out of skin for them to cover, I’m not sure what’s going to happen when I do.” She mentions, a nervous tone in her voice, rubbing at the pinkish-purple marks on her hands. Ash and Pikachu jump a bit at that. They’d never seen her worried about...anything. They shared a glance before nodding solemnly, stepping forward to pat her shoulder lightly. She smiled gratefully in response, nodding to them. They nodded as well, stepping back. So she wasn’t all evil, and she wasn’t faking the smiles. Who knew? 

“Most likely? You’re going to evolve.” Gou mumbles offhandedly as he took down notes, ignoring her startled reaction. He then pulls out a camera. “Can I take a couple photos?” 

“Er, sure?” She asked uncertainly, pulling the extra collar off and tying back her hair. Then, with a moments hesitation, she teleported away her jacket and leggings, leaving her in just the short sleeved, knee long dress she wore beneath. Gou gawked at the sheer level and deep color of the marks. They were far more pigmented then Ash’s, making them actually look like tattoo’s instead of scars. They also did cover, well, ALL of her. There wasn’t an ounce of skin on display besides her face that wasn’t covered in marks. Gou hastily took some photos, documenting the shapes and placements.

“Have they spread everywhere but your face?”

“Yes?” She asked awkwardly. She wasn’t used to anyone but her parents taking photos of her. Even now, she wasn’t much of a people person. One or two people were fine, but she just wasn’t up for large groups. She’d avoided them for too long; now they were just overwhelming. Especially since her telepathy had been popping up more regularly recently, and she couldn’t control it just yet. 

“Any other changes? Horns, thicker skin, something that wasn’t there before?” He asked, examining his photos. 

“No? Just stronger powers.” He tucked his phone away, nodding.

“Then you probably haven’t evolved yet.” He said as he put his notebook away too. He then put his hand out for a shake, looking her in the eyes. “I appreciate all your assistance.” He said passionately, shaking her hand when she carefully extended it. Honestly, this kid was kind of overwhelming on his own. “We may return with more questions later, would you be willing to cooperate with our investigation?” He asked sincerely, still looking her in the eyes. She backed up awkwardly, nodding.

“Sure? I kind of need to know what’s happening too?” She said, clenching her hands in front of her chest awkwardly. This kid was a bit forward, it was freaky.

Ash and Pikachu just snickered, enjoying the show. After so many years of fearing her, it was nice to see her being overran for once. You had to love this boy.

Gou straightened out his back at that, nodding. “Then we shall return with more pertinent information. Good day, kind lady!” Before turning around and exiting the gym, intending to get started right away. Ash snickered but followed, Pikachu in a giggle fit beside his face. 

“We’ll see you next time. Take care, Sabrina, Haunter, Gastly, Gengar!” He shouted as he left, waving behind him. 

They all waved them off awkwardly. How had the mood changed so drastically; and what had they just gotten into?

———

Olympia went much the same way, though with far less nerves on both sides. Ash didn’t dislike her per-say, he just wasn’t the biggest fan after last time. She was also far more used to energetic people then Sabrina, having a whole field of followers who WEREN’T scared of her, so she wasn’t nearly as overwhelmed by Gou. She showed them her markings, that were even covering her forehead at this point, but informed them that no; no other major changes had occurred. So they thanked her, promised to keep her updated, and went on their way.

Gou was pouty. “Darn it. Those were our best two leads. If they still haven’t evolved with that level of coverage, what’s needed then? I feel like we are missing something: an item, location or catalyst?” He asked in confusion, rubbing his chin. He was also completely ignoring his delicious Poke Puffs, which had to be remedied. 

“How about we ask?” Ash asked, pushing Gou’s plate closer to him as he munched on one of his own.

“Ask who? We’re out of leads here. No human we know of has actually evolved, no matter how close they get.” He sighs though and picks up a puff at his boyfriends insistence. 

“Arceus? I mean, he made the universe right? Maybe not humans specifically, but still. He should have the answer.” He said calmly, still munching. Gou however had dropped the puff he was about to eat back onto his plate, much to his boyfriends annoyance. 

“Arceus? You expect us to march up to the god of gods and just, ask?” Gou paused, thought of who he was talking to, and sighed. “Of course you do. Let me rephrase this. HOW do you expect us to do that? Trainers have searched for eons and never found him.” 

“We head to Michina town in the Sinnoh region and call for him. It’s a favorite of his, he generally responds to Humans and Pokémon he likes when they call him there. I’m pretty sure he likes us, he didn’t try to kill us at the end there.” He said as he glanced at Pikachu, who just shrugged.

“Don’t ask me. I don’t understand these violent legendaries on the best of days, much less after that day. At least OUR boy talks before he attacks.” He says with a pleased smile, biting into his puff. 

Ash grins, ruffling his fur. “We did raise a good one. Still though, it should be fine. Worst case scenario he just doesn’t show up.” Gou decided not to mention that, no, the worst case scenario was him getting angry and destroying the world. Unlikely, but still, the worst case scenario.

“Worth a try.” He says instead, finally eating one of his puffs. The grin from his boyfriend was worth it, as was the deliciously sweet flavor that spread through his mouth. 

So, off to see Arceus next. 

———

They stopped at home for supplies. Raboot -who had declined the offer to go visit the gym leaders, having stayed at the lab to train instead- was gung-ho to go on this mission. After all, who didn’t want to meet god? The most powerful Pokémon in the world? Of course he needed to see this.

So off they went to Michina town, determined to finally get some answers. 

The Rotom video recorder was turned on the minute they arrived, and would not be turned off until they left. Gou was determined not to loose out on this chance if they actually managed it.

Gou was expecting some ritual when they got there, some fancy way to summon Arceus. This was his boyfriend though, and he should have known better. 

“Arceus! Arceus, can you hear me? We have something we want to ask you!” 

Gou blinked as Pikachu pitched in as well. He didn’t understand Pokémon perfectly yet, but he did catch the words “now” and “owe us one” so he can’t imagine it was the most formal request. 

Sure enough though, before his very eyes appeared the god of legend, Arceus, in all his glory. The sun beams and parting clouds seemed to be symbolic, but for what he couldn’t place.

“Owe you one? I do believe I made that up by NOT killing you all last time.” He said, arching an eyebrow at Pikachu.

“Still wasn’t our fault you wanted to kill us. We fixed the problem, didn’t we?” He said in exasperation.

“You did.” He nodded, conceding. “That still doesn’t mean I owe you anything though. If anything, your race owes you, not me. All you did for me was give me MY plates back, which your species should have done anyway.” He says with a huff. “What could you possibly want though? It’s been years. Generally when people want something from me, they’ve asked before now. After all, you have such short lives.” 

“Who’s fault is that?” Raboot asks, before Gou covers his mouth. 

“Just a few questions. We want to know what this means!” Ash asks as he pulls his shirt off, showing off his markings in full. 

“I’m pretty sure it means he is evolving, but no one has yet.” Gou finally pitched in, letting go of an irritated Raboot. “We don’t know what happens if he does, nor how to cause it, as it hasn’t happened yet. I also had some questions on the meaning of life?” He added subtly at the end. 

Arceus huffed, laughing. “Look at that. I haven’t seen that in a while. You humans have thought yourself too good to evolve for some time, well before your ancients and I interacted. How nice to see you stop shunning your gift.” 

“So how do we use it? How do we evolve?” Gou asked, eager.

He just laughed again. “Simple child, you want it. You grow strong and go to the place of beginnings for all life and request it, and it shall be granted. It’s how you humans always evolved.”

“So it is a combination of power and location.” He mumbled, contemplating.

“The Tree of Beginning?” Ash pitched in, recognizing that wording. 

“Yes child, you Human’s call it the Tree of Beginning. Is this really all you wanted though? Usually your kind ask for power, wealth, or fame when they pester me.” He added condescendingly. 

“Why would I need to ask for those? I can get those on my own. It’s no fun if someone gives them to me, then I lost the journey!” Ash asked in confusion. Pikachu just smiled beside him, nuzzling his leg. Only his Human.

Arceus just grinned. “Exactly.” And vanished in an explosion of light. 

Raboot just huffed. Show off. He knew he didn’t have to do that to teleport. Gou seemed impressed at least. 

“One last thing.” They heard broadcasted through the air around them, though the Pokémon himself was absent. “There is no meaning. We are born, we live, we die. You decide what it means.”

Gou was having an excited tangent from the overload of important data. Ash just shrugged. Of course they decide what it means, who else would? In doing so, he completely missed the fact that they’d just gotten the answer to one of the oldest questions in existence. At least Gou was there, this time the answer wouldn’t be lost. And he got it on tape!


	6. The Giving Tree

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ash and Gou find out how evolution works, but not in the way you’d expect. Many, many conversations are had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You all are sweet, you know that? I was still working on this but I felt the need to give you something, so I’ll make the rest separately. You have no idea how much I appreciate the comments, and I’ll do my best to keep up. Honestly, I’ve never gotten this many comments outside of the Danny Phantom fandom, and it makes my day each time I get one. Thank you! 
> 
> P.S. where did gouacheshipping come from? What does this ship name even mean? Why is it ache and not ash? Can I get some help here?

“That...was a lot.” Gou says as he leans back with a sigh, stomach full after dinner at a local mushroom burger joint.

“Mhm.” Ash mumbles out, still stuffing his face on burger number five. Pikachu was trying to compete with him it seemed, as his mouth was just as full of Pokémon food.

“So are you gonna do it?” Gou asked curiously, sipping on his drink.

Ash swallowed before taking a big drink of his own, then responded. “Do what?”

Gou raised an eyebrow, incredulously. “Evolve, you dolt! The thing we’ve been researching all week?”

“O, o yeah.” Ash said, eyes widening as it sunk in. “I can, huh? A little more training, then I just go back to the tree...” he trailed off, thinking about it. He’d never actually thought on it, honestly. Humans didn’t evolve normally, and he’d always been fine the way he was. He liked improving, always tried his best to, but that...that was a big step. Evolution tended to change you mentally, even if it was only in small ways. Did he want that change? “Do you want me to?” Ash asked quietly, looking at Gou.

If possible, Gou’s eyebrows went even higher. “Do I want you to- Of course I want you to! Do you know what that would do for our research? But that isn’t my choice! This is a big deal! And as much as I’d like it if you did, I don’t want you to if you’d be unhappy. We can always find someone else who wants to evolve; I want to know what you want to do.” Gou said as he reached forward, grabbing Ash’s hands. He smiled at him softly. “You’re more important to me then this research.” 

Ash nodded, still looking lost. He glanced at Pikachu for help. Pikachu just snickered. “Don’t look at me. You always let us Pokémon make our own life choices, right? They’re our bodies, you always let us do what we wanted with them. Well, now it’s your turn, and I’m sure not making that choice for you.” He smiled at him warmly. “It’s important to be who you want to be after all, so you decide who that is; You taught me that, after all.” 

Ash still looked lost, but he smiled softly at both of them. “I have no idea what I want, not on this. I think...I think I’ll take some time. Figure out what I want to be.” He said with a shrug.

Gou kept smiling, leaning forward to peck him on the cheek. “Sounds perfect to me. This is important after all, take all the time you need. So, wanna call the other candidates and see who wants to?” Gou asked, grinning. 

Ash just laughs. “Sure, sounds perfect.” 

———

Acerola, like Ash, decided to take time to sort it out. Sabrina decided not to, at least not for now. She wasn’t comfortable with that level of change, and was actually relieved to know it wouldn’t happen randomly. She’d started carrying an Everstone anyway, just in case. Olympia though? 

“Gladly.” She said with a smile. 

“Really?!” They shouted excitedly in tandem.

She chuckled. “Of course. I have looked to the past of our people, and decided what I want in my future. If I can become a link between these times then so be it. I want to see who I will become.” 

Ash stared at her in awe, surprised by her decision. He...still had no idea what he wanted to do, not in this. Pikachu looked at him in concern. It was rare to see his trainer so indecisive. 

“Then let’s go! You surely have reached the level needed at this point to evolve, so all you need to do is go to the Tree of Beginning! Before we leave though...” Gou reached into his pocket and tossed something to Ash. “Keep this for now. Wouldn’t want to evolve if you aren’t ready, right?” He asked with a smile.

Ash stared down at the Everstone for a minute before squeezing it tight, tucking it away. “Right. Thanks.” He says with a soft smile back. He really did have the most wonderful boyfriend. 

———

“What’s it like?” 

Rabifoot raised an eyebrow, curious. “Elaborate a little?” He asks with a hum, settling more comfortably against his seat. They still had a long drive ahead to the Tree of Beginning. Ash shifts, blushing, looking nervous. 

“Evolving. You had one of the most drastic personality shifts, when you evolved. I was curious why.”

Rabifoot snorted. “Is that how you all saw it?” he snickered at Ash’s nod. “I didn’t change because I evolved. I evolved because I changed. I realized and wanted something I hadn’t as a Scorbunny. I changed to reflect that desire.”

“So that’s how it works...” Ash responded in surprise. 

“You’ve seen all these Pokémon evolve and didn’t realize that? Not that that is the only reason Pokémon evolve. I’ve seen some do it just to get stronger, some to protect others, you name it. Why someone evolves is entirely up to them. Well, and the biological factors, but still.”

“I wonder why Charizard stopped listening to me when he evolved then.” Ash asked curiously. “He seemed fine with me up til that point, I thought something had changed.”

Pikachu laughed. “Something did; his ego.” Pikachu said with a chuckle as he patted his trainers side. “He realized he’d gotten o so strong, thought he was too good for the rest of us. I’m honestly surprised he stuck around with the way he was talking. He outgrew it eventually. After some humble pie and a lot of love.” He said with a smile, snuggling up to his trainer. “Still competitive though, even if his pride has lessened.”

“So even if I evolve, I’ll still be me?” Ash asked, curiously.

“Yes pikapi, you’ll still be you.” He said with a smile, settling in. “I’d have it no other way.” 

———

Arriving at the mountain was easy, as was getting in. Mew was gleeful to see his old friends; Gou was gleeful to see a Mew. 

Ash saw his hand twitching towards his belt, and promptly held it with his own. “Wrong Mew, bad idea.”

“I know, I know.” He says with a sigh. “It’s just tempting.” He grumbles, squeezing the fingers in his own gratefully. 

“I request a battle!” Olympia demands as she approaches the Mew, who trills happily at the invite. He promptly agrees, leading them to an open field within the structure. Gou was constantly recording all they see, but promptly refocused his attention when he noticed Olympia stepping into the battlefield herself. 

“What is she doing?!” He asks in horror. 

“Gaining experience.” Ash says simply, confused as to why his boyfriend seems panicky. “She does need to get stronger here to evolve, right?” 

“But battling Mew?!” He asks, aghast.

“Who else? Mew has to know how this works better then anyone, after all. He’s been here since the beginning.” Ash says with a shrug.

“The beginning of what?!” He’s so confused. They never told him any of this!

“Of time. He’s been here since the beginning of time.” Pikachu fills in, looking at his awkward acquaintance sadly. “He’s seen a lot of good people come and go through these walls.”

“Oh.” Gou realizes, looking at the Pokémon in awe. “Oh.” This Mew didn’t just know history, this Mew had SEEN history. This was his job, to guard this sacred place and help humans evolve.

“But didn’t you say humans were banned from the tree for a while? I just realized, what could we have possibly done to get banned from the place we evolve at?”

“Arceus was mad at you.” Mew shouted from across the battlefield, as they got into position. “Said you weren’t allowed in. Someone...” he looked at Ash and Pikachu pointedly, who shrugged lightly, “messed with the time stream though, fixing the problem. He’s over it now. And honestly, I was done enforcing it. Trying to nearly cost me my friends, and my life. If he has a problem with humans in the future, he can deal with it himself. Ready to go?” He asks, shifting his attention to Olympia.

“Of course, kind sir.” She said as she floated up. Her Meowstic started cheering from their spot on the sideline, cheering her on.

“Youngest to oldest, you go first!” He shouts happily.

“Don’t mind if i do.” She agrees, sending off a powerful Psychic attack from the get-go. She promptly follows it with Future Sight, before dodging the Fire Blast thrown her way. She manages to keep it up for a few turns, but honestly, she had no chance. This Mew was ancient, and far more battle hardened then he looked. By the end he barely had a scratch, and she could barely stand. Before she passed out though, she began to glow, a bright teal light emanating off of her.

“What-“ was all they heard from her before the light became blinding, hiding her from sight. As suddenly as it appeared it faded, leaving her behind. To say she looked the same as before though was a flat out lie.

The marks were still there, along her whole body and outlining her face, but now they were a solid, deep purple. Her eye glowed faintly teal, and her outfit was shredded from the many black shadow ribbons that had spouted randomly from her body, seemingly under her control. Most noticeably thought was the bright purple gem that had appeared dead center of her forehead, glowing brightly in the tree’s light. Less noticeable were the two small, black horns tucked near flat along her hair line. 

“Magnificent.” Gou said in wonder, adjusting the angle of his recording. Olympia seemed just as stunned, examining herself. 

“Amazing.” She responded with.

“Congratulations!” Mew chipped in, flying up to pat her head. “You are a hardworking human indeed! It’s been a while since anyone got close to this, much less did it. Ash over there isn’t even halfway ready!”

“Really?” He asked, blinking in surprise.

“Of course! Your marks are tiny, and you need more training! But that means you might visit again, so yay!” He responds with a flip, smiling cheerfully with his eyes closed. 

“We’ll visit anyway, I have a lot of questions I’d like to ask.” Gou admitted, stepping forward.

“I’d be happy to answer. It’s always nice to have good company.” He responded cheerfully. 

Gou just smiled back, suppressing the sadness he feels every time he imagines this creature living alone through millions of years. 

“We will do our best to be it.”

———

You’d think planning to reveal the news about the first human to evolve in centuries would result in Ash taking time to focus on their research - or at least bask in the glory of their discovery. You might think that, but Gou knew better.

“You sure you want to do this?” Gou asked nervously as he watched Ash change clothes, putting on a sturdier outfit. His mom made it just for this. 

“Of course I am! There’s only so much experience I can gain just battling my friends, after all! There’s a whole world of experience out there!” He responds with a grin. He looks at his extra special gloves for a minute before setting them aside, deciding not to use them. He’d been training for this after all, to do this with his own power; no aids this time. 

Gou just sighs. “Okay. Just...be careful out there, alright?” Then he remembers who he’s talking to, chuckles, and grins. “Who am I kidding? Do your best, bring home a win, alright? Prove to them you aren’t all talk.” 

Ash laughs. “My pleasure.” And he leans in for a quick kiss before taking off, leaving Gou behind him surprised. “Thanks for the good luck!” 

Gou blushes, but smiles as he touches his lips. His goofy boyfriend, honestly. 

He goes to the stands to watch as Ash and Pikachu approach the field for a 2v2 Pokémon battle. This small town tournament was all 2v2, it’s why Ash picked it. Everyone else assumed Ash had a second Pokémon on standby; Everyone else would be wrong. 

They got to the field and the opponent started by sending out an Onix, most likely to counter for Pikachu.

Ash just grinned and walked onto the field, leaving Pikachu in the trainer’s circle. 

“What’s this? The trainer has stepped forward onto the battlefield! What is he thinking?” The announcer asked, looking on in confusion.

“This is 2v2 right?” Ash shouts as loud as he can back. “I’m one of the 2! The rules only said that the Pokémon had to be registered and have a trainer, it didn’t say someone couldn’t be both!” Gou grinned, enjoying hearing his boyfriend spout the loophole he taught him. 

He heard papers shuffle before the announcer comes back. “That-that’s true, you can battle, but you have no trainer! Who is giving commands?”

Ash looks up like the man’s stupid. “Pikachu, of course! He’s in the trainer’s circle!” 

The audience laughs, thinking this is a joke. Gou just grins. They won’t be laughing in a minute.

The announcer raises an eyebrow, but concedes. “So be it! You both are registered, so go ahead! Referee?”

“3-2-1 start!” And the battle begins, much to the audience’s horror. 

Pikachu wastes no time. “Quick Attack!” He shouts, thinking back to his own battles. Right as Ash got near the Onix, he shouts again. “Use the momentum to jump! Climb his back!” And Ash does, leaving the audience to gawk. What is this kid doing?! There’s no way he can understand the excited gibberish from his Pokémon, right?! Ash gets on top of the Onix’s head and grabs on. It starts to thrash, trying to shake him off. “Hold on tight!” Ash does, letting the Pokémon wear itself out. Finally it goes to jam him into a wall, which is when Pikachu’s orders him to let go. The Onix slams its face against the wall, damaging itself. “Aura Sphere!” Pikachu shouts, while he’s recovering. And Ash does. A point blank Aura Sphere, which still took longer then for most Pokémon to generate, but he made one none the less. He releases it, knocking the Onix out with one big blast. The audience is silent. Gou stand up with a grin, and begins clapping. Slowly, the stands join him, until there’s a roared crowd cheering for his boyfriend. The opposing trainer gawks, before withdrawing his Onix and sending out a Crobat. Pikachu just grins and shouts one final order. “Tag out!” Before they trade places with a high-five, leaving Pikachu on the field and Ash in the trainer’s circle. The next battle ended even quicker then the first, with Pikachu pinning the Pokémon with an Electroweb before Thunderbolting it.

Gou just grinned, looking down at Rabbifoot. “They’re amazing, right?” 

He just nodded, not looking back. “I don’t know how they do it.”

“Do what?” Gou asks curiously.

Rabbifoot shrugs. “Trust like that. One wrong order from the other could lead to such immense pain, but they follow every order from the other blindly, without question. Even when the other makes a mistake causing them to get hurt, they just get back up and keep going. How can you have such blind faith in someone else’s abilities?” 

Gou looks at him before glancing at the field, where Ash and Pikachu are shaking hands with the loosing trainer, who’s staring at them with blatant awe. “I don’t think it’s blind faith. They know the other is skilled, and trust them to do their best. They also know the other is fallible, and that they can get hurt listening to them. I don’t think they care. I think their desire for their goals, and trust in their bond, outweigh their own self preservation. Even if they get hurt, the other will ensure their survival, so it doesn’t matter. I’m not sure if that’s because of their bond, or if that’s what coming back from the dead will do to you.” 

Rabbifoot snorted. “Probably both.”

Gou’s quiet for a minute, watching them come off stage, jumping into the stands and grinning at them as they approach. “Do you think we’ll ever be like that?” 

Rabbifoot shrugs, looking further away. “I don’t know. Maybe someday, who knows but...I don’t know.”

Gou smiles shyly. “Me either.” Before running up to hug his excited boyfriend. Rabbifoot just gives Pikachu a high five for the job well done. 

———

They sweep through the rest of the tournament similarly, Ash having little difficulty in his first professional competition as a Pokémon. After all, these opponents don’t hold a candle to some of the attacks he’s taken in the past. 

The reporters swarmed them the moment they exited the exhibition hall. There was many a phone in that stadium, and as such many a camera. Plenty of footage, amateur and otherwise, was captured of the young boy who took down an Onix on his own. Upon that being mentioned, Ash seemed incredulous.

“On my own?! How did you get that?!” 

Everyone paused, confused. “Did you, or did you not, use Aura Sphere to make it faint?” Asked one reporter, slowly.

“Well yeah, but I wasn’t alone! Pikachu was the trainer, he told me to.” They all blinked, glanced at the waving Pokémon, before turning to his companion for more cohesive answers.

“If you’re looking for an easier answer, you aren’t getting one.” Gou finally pitched in with a relaxed shrug. “Consider this a demo for our exhibition next month. Together we have a comprehensive analysis of Pokémon Language, Human history, and Human biology to release. All of today’s events will be explained in further detail then.” He announces with a proud grin, before grabbing his boyfriend’s hand and dragging them through the crowd, and away to freedom. 

Ash just laughed as he was dragged along. 

———

Rabbifoot looked at Pikachu warily. He wanted to ask him a question but honestly, the Pokémon freaked him out. Him and his trainer were smart, crazy smart. Crazy trusting as well, but crazy smart. The battle strategies Ash comes up with, the ways Pikachu executes his commands, not everyone can do that. It takes a certain level of skill, smarts and strength that make them ridiculously formidable. Even when Ash was the one following commands! Pikachu might not be a trainer normally, but he’d been an athlete for ages. He might not replace some top tier trainer like his own, but he can still win a small time match like the previous one. He had faith in Ash, after all. He used Ash’s strategies, and tried to add his own twist. He knew how to battle, even if he didn’t have as much experience devising a strategy from scratch like his trainer. He’d had to do it before that day, but rarely. And the same went for Ash, who had spent years training with and organizing his Pokémon. When push came to shove he was a formidable battler, even if his body wasn’t as well trained as his Pokémon’s in actual combat. His movements were knowledgeable, but sloppy. Undertrained. In time he’d fix that though, as Pikachu got more creative with his orders, and they’d be just as terrifying this way as they are normally.

So yeah, approaching him alone was a little intimidating, but he had to ask.

So when Pikachu was napping in a tree one day while their trainers were having date night, he approached him.

“How do you do it?” He asks.

“Do what?” Pikachu responds, not even glancing to give away that he’s awake. His breathing pace hadn’t even changed! 

“Get him to understand you like that. Mine never seems to get what I’m telling him, even when he’s learning our language!” 

“Have you ever tried actually telling him?” Pikachu asks, finally propping up from his sleeping curl onto his front paws. He raises an eyebrow. “Because I don’t think you have. You wanted to learn a move, but you didn’t tell him WHY. The boys a simple soul, just like mine. He picks a goal, he goes for it. He doesn’t think about other hobbies much, unless they aid his goal. He doesn’t see why battles are important, other then for basic capturing. So he doesn’t get why you’d want to learn THAT move, when you had plenty of other good ones. Not if it caused you distress. Did you tell him why learning to use your fire mattered?” 

Rabbifoot blinked, surprised. “...no. I thought it was obvious.”

Pikachu snorted. “They’re humans, no such thing. Me and mine bonded because we were open and honest, even back when there was a language barrier. I was foreword about not liking my pokeball, about not wanting to evolve, about not even liking him. He accepted the first two for my comfort, and fought to change the last one. He told me about his dream, and in time I accepted it and tried to support him. It became my dream too. It really is that simple. Just talk to him.” Pikachu says with a huff, before curling up. “Why is everyone around me so dense?” 

Rabbifoot had no comeback for that.

———

It took him a while to approach the subject. They were all pretty busy -sorting out all the data for the exhibition and gathering more- and the time just never seemed right. But one day they were recording data on different moves, sorting out who could use what, when he finally pitched in.

“Fire represents the strength of ones heart.” He threw in randomly.

Gou paused, looking back in surprise.

“What?”

Rabbifoot blushed, looking away. “To Fire Pokemon, Fire is an example of inner strength. Of the courage and tenacity one has. To have no fire move means you have no motivation, no drive. That’s why it mattered.”

“Oh.” Gou said, eye’s widening. “OH.” He crouched down next to him. “Why didn’t you tell me?! We could have been working on this together! I didn’t know this was so important to you, I thought you were just being prideful and stubborn.” He admitted with a wince.

He snorted. “I was, but not about that. I probably should have told you a while ago.” 

“Is this why you stopped listening to me? Because I didn’t listen to you on this?” Gou asked, quieting down.

“You can’t listen to what I don’t say.” Rabbifoot admitted grumpily, looking away. “But yes. You didn’t get me, so I got mad. THEY get each other so easily.” He says, motioning to Ash and Pikachu, who are subtly whistling and trying to pretend like they aren’t listening. “I was frustrated we didn’t. I decided I’d have to become strong on my own, build my own fire. When I found it, I evolved.” He finally glanced at Gou. “I’d like to feel less spiteful the next time I evolve.” He says, blushing.

Gou chuckled, eyes wet. “I’d prefer that too. I’ll help this time, help you find your inner strength. Isn’t that what partners are for?”

Rabbifoot smiled, still blushing. “Maybe.”


	7. Plan Ahead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group goes on a trip to Unova to visit N, planning to ask some questions related to their research, since Ash thinks he might be able to talk to Pokémon as well. They get dragged into his war with team Plasma though, and Ash gets himself killed. Again. It doesn’t last. It does lead to a LOT of heartfelt discussions though. They never do get to talk to N this chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I’ve had a rough month. Trigger warnings for this chapter: Temporary character death, emotional fallout, and a discussion on the ramifications of watching someone die again, and again, and again...you don’t have to read the chapter to know what’s going on later. 
> 
> Suffice to say Ash dies again and Pikachu gets mad, then everyone has some long overdue talks on feelings. No one stays dead, because no matter how bad my personal life was this month, I’m a sucker for happy endings. Also my apologies for switching back and forth from English to Japanese on some Galarian Pokémon names throughout this series. Guess what language I watched the anime in? As for when this bit happens, it’s right after episode 32; Gou hasn’t met his old friend yet. And I don’t care what the anime says, they’re 13.
> 
> P.S. this is mentioned later, but the moment is dramatic so I can’t explain it. Dash is Donphan, Wrap is Scraggy, Zoom is Noivern, and Glow is Riolu. Nebby is of course Solgaleo, and Flutter is Togepi. Ash never named them, Pikachu did. Someone had to! ...bad names or not. 
> 
> And side note, did anyone else get diabetes from episode 31 of sword and shield? Like seriously, that was pure sugar. It was actually what improved my mood this month, along with getting rid of the foster child from hell. *shivers* Don’t raise teenagers if you aren’t ready for them kids, I think I walked away from that with some trauma. She has conduct disorder.

The battle raged around them, the scent of blood and smoke heavy in the air. Attacks blazed past them as Gou and Raboot battled and dodged the oncoming aggressors. What they were doing, what they were hoping to achieve, was all beyond him. Gou was a researcher, not a politician, he didn’t get the reasons behind Team Plasma’s assault. He didn’t know why the legendaries were fighting, for or against them. All he knew is that when they came to Unova to visit an old friend of Ash’s for their research, they got dragged into this conflict, and they had to fight their way out. 

Then...then Gou saw them, lying on the ground in the middle of the main battlefield, and his whole world tilted on it’s Axis. 

Gou fell to his knees, the horror of the situation making them give out. He stared in absolute terror as Pikachu stopped shaking his bleeding trainer, instead choosing to crawl overtop the wound in his chest and lie in the blood, going to sleep. To an outsider it would seem strange, even morose. Why would he sleep on a...on the...Gou swallowed, not wanting to finish the though. The point is, Pikachu’s response to Ash no longer being present was to sleep on top of his body. Some, if they knew how often this happened, would assume he was jaded. That he had seen his trainer die so many times that he could just go to sleep knowing it would be better after he awoke. Or maybe even too hopeful, thinking that lying on the wound and soaking up the blood could change something. Gou knew better. That wasn’t confidence or apathy, that was exhaustion. Pure, bone deep burnout. Pikachu wasn’t O so confident his trainer was coming back that he could sleep peacefully. Pikachu was sleeping because if his trainer DIDN’T come back, neither was he. And that terrified Gou the most. If this didn’t end well, it wasn’t one friend, one PARTNER that he’d be burying. It’d be both of them.

Before his mind could fully process what he was seeing though -as Raboot took the initiative to keep him alive and safe in the battle as he broke down inside- he heard the voices. The other humans were paying them no mind. Of course they weren’t, they couldn’t understand them. Gou could though, at least somewhat, and his halted brain was trying to process the overly important dialogue. 

“Now look what you did!” Hissed Zekrom, furious.

“Me?! Your side started this whole mess! It’s not my fault one of mine accidentally hit him!” Growled Reshiram back. 

“Well fix it anyway! Do you know what will happen if dad finds out we killed one of his favorites? And look at the other one! He’ll kill us if we leave them like this!” 

Reshiram actually looked offended at this. “I don’t have that kind of power and you know it! Do I look like a whole being to you?! It would take all three of us to fix him!” 

“Then let’s fix him.” The two beings turned in shock at the third voice behind them. 

They stayed there for a moment, stunned into silence. The whole battle paused at his presence actually, as even if only half of them could hear what was going on, all of them knew this was important. 

Gou had studied the basics on this region, and heard a bit from Pikachu. These three...were once one Pokémon. They were split because of a disagreement between their two trainers though. One being was formed for each trainer based on their beliefs, while a third was left behind, the shell of the former dragon. He resented the other two for abandoning him, splitting themselves up, all for a couple of flimsy beliefs. 

Kyurem hadn’t willingly talked to either of them in millennia. 

“You...want to help us?” Zekrom asks, hesitantly. 

Kyurem breaks into laughter at that. “Hahaha, ha, no.” He settles down, leveling them with a cold look. If looks could kill... “I have no care for what happens to you, and would relish in father’s rightful fury. Unfortunately, I have quite the fondness for those two, and will not stand by while they suffer.”

“You have a fondness for a human?!” Reshiram asks in surprise, looking his brother over like he’s never seen him.

“Of course.” He says, walking forward to lift the lifeless forms gently. “I didn’t hate them because they were human, you know. These two, this human and Pokémon, have something your thoughtless humans and their beliefs never had. They have heart, and I’m not about to let it get destroyed by you morons and your never ending battle.” He pulled their forms closer, Pikachu not even shifting from all the movement. “You’ve killed enough over your pointless philosophies. These two have done nothing but encourage and help the entire time I’ve known them, and I won’t let you harm them further. So get your asses in gear and help me fix them so I can go back to ignoring your ridiculous squabbles.” The other two looked uneasy but moved forwards regardless. They circle around the two, all holding their forelimbs out to support them. Energy slowly builds from them, pure draconian life energy, before it pulses outwards. The wound in Ash’s chest slowly closes, even if the spilled blood remains covering his clothes and Pikachu. Pikachu finally shifts at the shrinking wound, looking down blearily at his trainer. His trainer, who slowly blinks his eyes open, immediately zooming in on him.

“Hey buddy.” He croaks out. Pikachu goes from exhausted to relieved in less then a second, tears bubbling up into fountains. Sobs hiccup from his throat as he clings to his trainers chest, claws digging in as he bawls. 

“You idiot!” He sobs out, clinging. “Every time! Every single time you put me through this...”

“Sorry.” Ash says, clinging back. “Sorry...”

Kyurem pulls them back, setting them down on the ground slowly. No one approaches, too shocked by this. The entire battlefield was healed. All the dead and wounded were suddenly up again, not just Ash. But, the confusing part, was why did they do all of this? Why for them? Even the other two legendaries seemed shocked, and a little guilty. 

“I don’t even believe in these one’s ideals, you know.” Zekrom admitted. “They just seemed so convicted, and I wanted a battle to fight. Separating humans and Pokémon though...” he glanced at the clinging duo. “Sounds pretty awful.” 

Reshiram sighed. “I know, right? It’s part of why I backed the other side. They wanted to uncover the truths the other side was hiding, expose all the lies. Plasma just wanted to do it so they could conquer the defenseless humans, apparently; It had nothing to do with protecting Pokémon. If they had no Pokémon but Plasma did, it would be an easy win.”

Zekrom snorted. “Can none of these humans fight for themselves?”

Reshiram glanced down at the duo again, then back at N, who was hovering to the side. “A few. Not many. Honestly that’s been bugging me too. For a side that swears they want the truth, they manage to ignore a lot of truths about themselves.”

Kyurem grins maliciously at that. “Of course they do. They don’t actually care about their beliefs, do they? They just want to be right. Sound like anyone else I know?” He says with a humorless chuckle, turning to leave.

“Brother wait!” Zekrom shouts, worried.

“Can’t we talk about this?!” Reshiram adds in.

Kyurem pauses, not turning back. “Someday. Someday when you actually figure out why I’m mad. For now though, good luck with your pointless squabbles.” And he flies off, the other two following, trying to get him to explain. 

With their disappearance the battlefield finally starts moving again, but it doesn’t resume fighting. No one is quite sure how to continue after that. Gou knows though. He finally gets enough feeling into his legs to rush to his boyfriend, collapsing into a crushing hug. “Ash! Pikachu!” He sobs, hugging them both. Raboot just stands guard, growling at anyone who gets too close. 

“Hey.” His boyfriend croaks out, still dizzy from before. Pikachu shifts slightly so as not to get squished. “Sorry if I worried you.”

“Worried me- you died! Of course I was worried! What happened?! What were you thinking, running that far into the thick!” He asks, recalling how close to the legendaries Ash had been when he was shot down. Gou may not have seen the exact moment, but he did see the placement of the fall, and it was dead center of the conflict. 

“Trying to talk them down. I know those two, thought I could get them to stop fighting.” He admits, rubbing at Pikachu’s back. Pikachu, who had switched from sobbing to growling.

“Of which I told him not to. Told him to wait for an opening before we rush in. But no, had to do it now, too many people dying to wait. And obviously THEIR lives matter more then ours.” Pikachu growls out, glaring up at his trainer.

Ash blinks, startled. “I wasn’t thinking that! I just wanted them to stop! And usually we can stop it. We’ve always made it out before!” He argues back.

“O sure, after someone bails us out! Brings us back! I’m sick of dying, Ash!” He growls in frustration, before letting his head drop to his trainers chest, defeated. “I’m sick of watching you die.” He snuggles in, relaxing in his grip as Gou backs up to give them space. “I’ve only died twice, you know? And we went together one of those times. The other EIGHT times you’ve died though? I’ve had to watch. The drowning, the getting eaten, the asphyxiation? I had to watch ALL of that.” 

Slow tears continued to fall, mixing with Ash’s blood to make an even bigger mess. “Do you know what if feels like to watch your other half...vanish like that? To feel their life force go out and having no way to fix it.” He looks up at Ash, hurt, trying to make him understand. All he sees is hurt and confusion in return. He sighs, frustrated. 

He shifts back a bit, sitting up. “You know...I spent a lot of time with Blaze,” (A.N. Kiawe’s Charizard.) “And I asked him once, how he did it. Because, him and his trainer? They were like us!” He got a melancholy smile on his face at this, reminiscing. “He told me all these stories about them, about how far they went for each other, how much they grew. They meant everything to each other. They raised a family together, even after his partner’s wife passed. They stayed strong and raised the kids. Then one day, he got sick. He grew weaker, and no amount of medicine or love could slow it down. And then he was gone. And I asked him, how he did it? How was he still here without him?” The tears started falling again, and he glared at Ash. “And he told me he was here for them! That he was here for Rango, and Sima, and Kiawe, and Mimo! Because their family still needed them, so he couldn’t leave yet!” And he screams that last bit. “I’m not that strong! I’m not strong enough to stay behind without you, not even for the kids! Not for Dash, not for Wrap, not for Zoom, not for Glow, not even for Nebby or Flutter! They’ll survive without us, but I won’t survive without you!” He starts pounding on his trainers chest at this, still screaming for the whole battlefield to hear. “So stop doing this! Stop running into danger with no heed for what could happen! Just think a little! Because when you die...” he slumps down, sobbing. “So will I. I’m not staying here without you.” 

Ash, throughout this whole thing was stunned, lost. He’d never realized...Pikachu had never mentioned any of this. Well, not like this. Usually he’s upset right after it happened, but he was always over it quickly, moving on to the next adventure just like Ash. He’d never noticed these feelings festering inside his partner, this pain from it all happening. After all, he was dead when then worst pain happened, wasn’t he? He always got back right as the relief was setting in. He’d never noticed...

Tears started flowing down his cheeks as he scooped his partner up. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry sorry sorry. I know that doesn’t make up for it but I’ll try. I’ll try not to get hurt so much and I’ll try not to get killed so easily. Please stop overthinking it now, okay? I won’t do it again, please stop being so hurt. I didn’t want to hurt you!” He sobs out, clutching him close. 

Pikachu’s chuckles wetly. “I know you didn’t, pikapi.” He looks up again. The tears have slowed, but not stopped. “And that’s all I ask. Just try, okay? I’m not asking you to change greatly, I love you just the way you are. I just want you to still be here for me to love. So go out, care about people, try to save them like always. But when the battles heat up and guns start getting fired? Moves go into death mode, not sports level? Just try to stay a little safer, okay?” 

Ash nods, holding onto him. “Okay.”

———

They were sleeping soundly. Somehow, someway, they were asleep. Gou didn’t know how, he sure wouldn’t be sleeping tonight. 

Maybe those two are a bit jaded. They see this horrible battle with multiple casualties, including their own, and somehow find a way to rest afterwards. He wouldn’t be resting anytime soon though, as he peeked into their room at the Pokémon center for the fifteenth time just to make sure they were still there, still breathing. That image passed through his head again at the sight of them though, the image of a bleeding out Ash and a hopeless Pikachu, and he closes the door quickly to make the image vanish. He grimaces before going back into the hallway for another cup of coffee. He gets it before sitting down outside their door with a sigh. He’s silently joined by his own partner, who sits down beside him with a cup of his own.

“Can’t sleep either?” Gou asks.

He gets a grunt of affirmation. “Don’t want to. Too many enemies still lurking nearby.” That’s a thought too. 

“How are those two not paranoid yet? After all that?” Gou groans, leaning his head back with a quiet thud.

Raboot snickers. “They are. Or at least, Pikachu is. They may seem trusting, and they try to be, but that mouse is always listening in for signs of betrayal. You are a friend until you prove otherwise, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t watching for it.”

Gou hums in acknowledgement, trying to place that. He honestly hadn’t noticed, but he also hadn’t been looking. He’d try to in the future. It’s obvious that Pikachu has better judgement then Ash.

Gou thinks about their bond again, then sighs, shifting his cup between his hands to keep them warm. “I don’t think...I don’t think I ever want to be like them.” He admits. 

“Paranoid?” Raboot asks with a raised brow. 

“That close.” He turns quickly, getting how that sounds. “Not that I don’t care about you, I do!” He rushes out. “It’s just...that bond. That life or death, can’t be without you bond. I don’t...like that.” He looks away, pursing his lips. “I’ll be hurt if any of you leave me, obviously. I don’t take separation well. And I’d mourn if you died, but...I’d live. I’d keep going. I’d make new friends, new family, and keep learning. My adventure would keep going, even if I would feel like there’s a missing hole where the dead person should be. I don’t want to die just because you do, I’d want to keep living for you, and for myself. Have new adventures I could tell you when we meet again. Because if journeying with them has taught me anything, there is definitely an afterlife.” He snorts that last bit. “I just... want to live. And I don’t think I want to be so broken by someone’s death that I can’t.”

“I get that.” Raboot admits, startling him. He looks over. “I followed you because I found someone special, and you are. I’m glad I’m here with you, and these adventures are amazing. We do have a bond, even if we don’t always understand it, and it makes the journey seem even more special. If I loose you though, I’ll find a new trainer. Maybe even just stick with Ash, out of familiarity for a while. I’d miss you, but I’d keep going. Even if I can’t ever find another trainer or partner that fits me like you do, I’d keep going. I like being me. Don’t get me wrong, I thinks it’s amazing, what they have.” He says, glancing towards the room. “That unbreakable bond that moves the hearts of legends. It isn’t for everyone though, and it certainly isn’t for me. What we have, the two of us?” He says, looking directly at Gou. “It’s what suits us. It’s our bond, what fits us best. I’m sure it will still grow and change, but it doesn’t have to be like theirs. It’s fine being ours.” 

Gou nods, soft smile on his lips. He glances at the room again though, still nervous. “But what do we do about them?” 

Raboot looks ahead, sighing. They’ve done that a lot, tonight. “What can we do? It’s up to Ash to work on his own self preservation, though we can encourage it. What do you want to do though?”

“I...don’t know.” Gou admits.

Raboot hums. “We could leave, you know.” Gou looks at him, startled. “There are a lot of regions in this world to explore, and we don’t have to do it with them. If we stay, we have to watch it, for better or worse. Danger will always follow them, as the legendaries seem to see them as a peacekeeper. If you’ve noticed, they talk about a lot of friends, but none of them are here now. They don’t stay. I don’t know if it’s just because of diverging goals, or if they couldn’t take it anymore, but they didn’t stay. We don’t have to either.” 

Gou looks forward for a bit, mulling it over. “I...don’t want that.” He finally admits. “I love him, you know?” He says, a soft smile on his face as he sips some more of his coffee. “I love the way he’s always so excited about everything, so happy for each new adventure. Nothing is ever too mundane for him, whether it be researching pollen or training a kid for a swimming contest. Every adventure has meaning to him, no matter how small, and I love that. It fills my life with joy. And I like how hard he tries to make everyone happy, to make the world happier in general. I’m proud that I get to support him, that he can lean on me through this, for better or worse. It’s an adventure for me too. Getting to see all these legendaries, discover these new places, catch new Pokémon, it’s like a dream come true. So even though it’s hard, and I know I won’t walk away from it unscarred...I want to stay.” 

Raboot nods. “So be it. We’re in for the long haul then.” Gou snorts at the expression.

“I guess we are.”


	8. Baby Bonding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So I’ve watched episode 37. The baby was too cute. That’s what this is for, the baby was too cute not to include. So though I’m not going with the shows method of addressing this (though I adore that episode and it’s officially one of my favorites) nor am I retconning my story to match canon, I am adding in the baby. Also, that episode was pure sugar as well, and added lots of gay fluff, and I love it. Did anyone else appreciate that everyone just adopted Gou as part of the family the moment they knew who he was? I did. Alolan family for the win!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> P.S. I’ve had a better month, so this is all fluff. Enjoy!

Professor Barnett had a baby. Well, to be precise, she laid an egg that hatched into a baby, but the point still stands. They got the call when the egg hatched, after which they all rushed back to Alola, presents in hand. 

Professor Kukui, looking slightly worse for ware, greeted them at the airport. “Boys!” He shouted in delight upon spotting them, calling them over. They ran up for hugs, grinning as they looked around. 

“Where are they?!” Ash asked, delighted.

Kukui laughed. “At home, come on. He’s excited to meet you all.” 

They drove back and pulled in, Ash exiting the car the moment it stopped to run towards the house, Pikachu hot on his heals. The door opened the moment their feet touched the porch, and he grinned. “We’re home!”

“Welcome home.” Professor Barnett responded, smiling softly. 

“Alola, Professor Barnett! And...Lei, was it?” Ash asked, looking at the small toddler in her arms. 

“That’s right, Big Brother Satoshi.” Professor Burnett responded, eyes soft.

“Big brother, huh?” Ash asked, surprised. He then smiled happily. “Nice to meet you, Lei.” He held the baby’s hand as it reached for him, laughing as the baby slapped his face with the other hand. “Your hands are tiny!” 

Pikachu snickered. 

“No, Lei!” Burnett chastised softly, getting her son to stop. “Why don’t you all come on in? I’ve got lunch ready.” 

“Hope we’re not a bother.” Gou responded politely, stepping inside with his Pokémon close behind. 

Lunch was delicious as always, and Ash helped with the dishes while Gou cleaned up the table. It was messier then usual, what with a baby around now. All his other Pokémon were out and about, taking care of their own buisness. Apparently they’d gotten jobs to kill time, so they weren’t home to help as much. 

“You two look exhausted.” Ash said, looking them over.

“Ash!” Gou hissed out. “That’s rude.” 

The professors just laughed though. “He’s not wrong.” Kukui grinned.

“Being a new parent’s a lot of work.” Burnett added. “Humans don’t stay in the egg very long, so we don’t come out as developed as other species. So it takes a lot of work to raise one of us.” 

“We haven’t slept a lot this week, as a result.” Kukui laughs. 

Ash blinks, surprised. “We can help today, if you’d like.” 

They both blink, startled. “What?”

Ash grins, Pikachu joining in. “We have a loooot of experience raising baby Pokémon, a baby human can’t be that different, right? We can watch Lei for a few hours so you two can get a break.” Pikachu says, Ash translating for him. 

They blink in surprise, glancing at each other. Then Kukui grins. “Sure, why not! Honestly I need a nap. You hun?” 

Burnett giggles, grinning back. “Sure. If you’re sure you’ve got this you two, we’ll leave him to you for a bit.” And with that they head to the back room, already yawning. Gou just stood there warily.

“Are you guys sure you’ll be okay?” He asks uncertainly. Ash just grins.

“Peachy. Trust me, we’ve got this. You go catch some Pokémon, have fun! We’ll handle things here.” 

And they did. While Gou was off catching Pokémon with Raboot and Sobble, Ash, Pikachu, and Riolu stayed with the baby. Ash had let Riolu out to play with Lei, but he wouldn’t get near him actually. At first he’d wanted to fight him, but upon Ash telling him he was fragile, he suddenly wanted nothing to do with the baby. Ash sighed in exasperation. His little one had too much pride. Someone being weak didn’t make them not worth your time, and that was a lesson Riolu had yet to learn. 

Still, the two of them had fun with him while Riolu trained. He was a ball of energy for such a small baby. They played with blocks and chased him around. Tv was useless, he had less of an attention span than his older brother for it, so they stuck to more active games. Before long three hours had passed and the rested parents came out to see the adventures unfolding. 

Burnett just snorted upon seeing them. Apparently someone had though markers were a good idea, so now Ash, Pikachu, and every piece of paper surrounding them in the grass out front were covered in ink. At least they thought to do it outside of the house. 

Kukui grinned upon spotting them, coming forward. “Having fun I see.”

Ash beamed. “Look! He’s an artist, just like Naganadel!”

Pikachu was grimacing instead, trying to lick the ink out of his fur. Ugh. 

Kukui just laughed. “I see that. Come on in, I think it’s time to get you three washed up though. Where’s Gou?” He asked, looking around.

“He’ll return eventually, he went out to catch something!” Ash responded calmly, standing up with the baby in hand. Pikachu gathered up the supplies despite his grumbling, packing them over to the professor who kindly took them. 

“Well let’s get dinner ready before he does. Sounds like you’ve all had a busy day, you’ll need food to keep up that fighting spirit!” 

Ash just smiled, agreeing. 

The rest of the night was just that. Everyone came home, bath time, dinner time, and a tv show that both Ash and Lei fell asleep during. The parents grinned as they tucked them into bed, everyone else finding their place before sleeping. It may be a lot of work, but there was nothing more wonderful then their expanding family.

———

(Snippets from everyone else’s day)

“One, two, one, two, one, two, come on kits faster! I know you can do it!” Lycanroc shouted as the younger Pokémon kept running, trying to improve their speed. He huffed in amusement as a young Meowth slipped before growling and resuming training on all fours for better balance. Alolan Meowth could run on all fours, but tended not to because it seemed less graceful. This one, rare as it was, didn’t seem to care. Lycanroc was so proud. Thinking back to how he used to be about his appearance, he knew it could hard to overcome that kind of bias. 

———

“A little to the left!” Rowlett shouted from the sky as Melmetal put the girder into place. He adjusted it slightly before getting a wing up in okay, after which Incineroar welded it into place with a small flame. The construction crew they were helping could only watch in awe. 

When the metal one wasn’t trying to eat their supplies, the champions Pokémon really were the best help they’d ever gotten. They worked together flawlessly and quickly finished any task assigned. They had strength and skill to spare, and in moments like this it showed. 

Now if they could just get their birds eye view to stop napping on the job.


	9. Rival Review

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ash’s old rivals get to discover what he’s been up to. They each have a unique interpretation of the situation.
> 
> P.S. I only got through Gary and Paul. If you have any ideas for the others feel free to drop them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feliz Navidad! Happy early Christmas! Here’s a new chapter! Thanks to all the comments who helped inspire this! It’s been a rough year for everyone and we all need a little holiday cheer, and though this chapter has nothing to do with Christmas I hope it helps cheer you up! Happy Holidays!

Gou groaned as the alarm went off, reaching out to push snooze just one time, snuggling closer to Sobble. He normally didn’t, honestly, but given what they’d done last week he was the definition of sore. Between saving Galar, multiple battles, capturing a legendary, and then going on a trip to battle Mewtwo, he’d definitely gotten his exercise this week. Everything, absolutely everything was sore. Still, no time like the present. Too much to do, so little time. So with a disgruntled groan Gou dragged himself out of bed at the second alarm and went to wake his boyfriend. 

“Ash. Aaassshhh. Come on, time to get up.” He grumbled, shaking his arm. Not waiting for him to actually move, he walked away to change, stumbling past Cinderace and Lucario’s morning push up competition. He gets his supplies together on the counter, removes his shirt, and promptly drops it. He continues to gape for five solid minutes, just staring at the mirror. 

“Aaaaaassssssshhhhhh!” He screams at last when he comes back to himself, voice squeaky.

“I’m up, I’m up!” Ash shouts back, finally getting out from under the covers.

“You gotta see this!” His boyfriend shouts, coming into the bedroom shirtless. 

Ash blinks in surprise, looking at his chest. It’s small, at a glance one would miss it. If Gou’s skin was any lighter, it might even blend in. As is though, against Gou’s dark skin, the pale gray, blockish lines stand out in stark contrast. 

“Huh. Congrats, that’s great Gou!” Ash responds cheerfully, grinning.

Gou’s still freaking out a little. “Right?! This is amazing! I’m gaining levels! I have a type! Wait, which type? What am I?!” He finally asks, grabbing his boyfriend by the shoulders.

Ash blinks in confusion. “A Gou?” 

Gou blinks, before snickering. “Only you.” He straightens up with a sigh, relaxing though. “Right, I’m me. And you’re you, and we’ve got this.” 

Ash smiles cheerfully. “Always.”

Pikachu, tired of waiting for his humans to finish their usual existential crisis, promptly gets out of bed without them and heads towards the kitchen for food. He’s seen this kind of thing often enough that unless it’s life or death, 8 am is too early for a strong response. Food first, cheerful supporting later. The other three Pokémon present, all far less jaded, stay behind to watch. 

———

Gary was still gaping at the news report. “How?!” He asks, rubbing his forehead. Seriously, how? Can’t he have one thing Ash isn’t better then him at? This is karma, isn’t it? He should have been a nicer rival, back when he had the upper hand. Ash’s attention span ensured he’d have a slow start, Gary knew he’d get ahead. He should have appreciated the head start instead of getting complacent. Because now, somehow, the impatient dork he’d grown up with had gotten better at not only battling but research. His pride stung. 

Still, he was impressed. That news report implied he’d figured out quite a bit in the time they’d been apart. Him and that Pikachu had flawless battle chemistry in the clips, no matter who filled what role. They near always had, really, but the improvement was obvious. So, one thing was for certain. He had an old friend to visit. 

———

Gary stormed into Cerise Labratory on a mission, which was promptly forgotten when he entered the door. There in the entry way were two trainers and six Pokémon. The entire scene before him was a mess, as multiple Pokémon wrestled to get their equipment and stuff together around their trainers trying to do the same. The Cinderace looked five seconds away from kicking that ball at someone, the Sobble kept appearing and disappearing as it tried to reach the small backpack it usually rides in, and the Pikachu had hopped onto Dragonite’s head, trying to stay out of the cluster, while said Dragonite tried to get its section of the luggage packed onto its back. The Flygon was trying to bat past the Lucario to her backpack, and honestly Gary was half tempted to back up and stay clear because he didn’t want to get near that mess. 

Before he made a decision though he was spotted. “Pikapi! Pikaka!” He heard, at which Ash looked up in surprise.

“Gary!” He responded with a grin, detangling himself from the group to step forward. The rest continued to ignore him as they got ready. “It’s been ages! How have you been?” 

“Good.” Gary responded, still eyeing the battlefield behind him warily. “I wanted to talk to you actually.”

“This isn’t the best time.” The boy behind them responded, finally shoving forward himself. “If you want to chat you’ll have to do it on the road, we’re already behind schedule. We had an eventful morning.” He seemed determined and calm, but there was a light blush appearing on his cheeks. 

“Gou got his first marks! He’s so excited.” Ash responded in delight, following the boy. Said boy ignored that and kept going. Gary followed, watching in surprise as the Pokémon finally detangled themselves and followed after as well.

“Marks...right. I had some questions is all. I know you said you’d have an exhibition or something soon, but given we’re old friends and all, I thought I’d come to ask myself.” He tapped Ash’s arm to get him to look at him as they walked. “How did you use Pokémon moves?!”

Ash blinked, surprised. “I learned them? It’s really not that hard. You just train like any other Pokémon, silly.”

“Darling, common knowledge.” Gou said, not even looking back, still focused on navigating them to their goal. “That isn’t it.” 

Ash grinned sheepishly. “O, right.” He turned back to Gary. “Humans are a type of Pokémon. So we can use moves. I trained, I learned moves. See, simple!” And he continued to grin.

It really wasn’t that simple. “How did you even learn that? How did you figure out how to test that? WHY did you decide to test it at a public competition?” Gary was ready to pull his hair out.

Ash tilted his head. “Why not?”

Gou smiled, looking back finally. “It’s Ash. If you really know him so well, you’ll realize it really is simple. He found out by asking someone who knew. That someone was a legendary Pokémon. He tested it by just doing what every other Pokémon did, then adding his own spin to it. He did that contest because he wanted a challenge. He always wants a challenge, why wouldn’t he want one in this instance too? This is just Ash being Ash.”

“And who are you?” Gary asked, exasperated.

His grin turned smug. “I’m Gou, a research fellow, and his boyfriend.”

Gary blinked, baffled. He looked at Ash. “You date? I thought you were asexual. You’ve turned down, like, dozens of people in the last few years.”

Ash groaned, turning away with a blush. “I didn’t notice, okay! I know now!” 

Gary snickered. Honestly he was still confused, but the teasing was relaxing. It was old patterns, old habits. He wasn’t as much of a douche as he used to be, and Ash wasn’t as helpless, but it was nice to see some things hadn’t changed.

———

He’d been so busy asking questions he’d followed them to the station. Gou looked back as they arrived. “You coming?”

Gary blinked, startled. “Where are you going?”

“On an adventure!” Ash declared with a grin. 

“Does it matter?” Pikachu asked, not that Gary understood. 

“Sunburst Island. I want a Crystal Onix.” Gou said, determined.

“And I want to battle the Crystal Onix!” Ash responded.

Gary scrunched up his brows. “How do you even know there’s a Crystal Onix?”

Ash shrugged. “We’ve seen him. Right Pikachu?” Pikachu, finally fully awake, nodded enthusiastically in response. “Come on, it’s time to board!”

Gary blinks, startled. “Hey- wait for me!”

——-

So. There really was a Crystal Onix. Ash did indeed battle the Crystal Onix. Gou then proceeded to catch the Crystal Onix. Gary just gaped for the entire trip. When they settled down for lunch afterwards with some old friends of Ash’s he finally got his words back. “Is it always like this?” 

“Hm?” Ash asked, mouth full.

“Yes.” Pikachu responded calmly, not that he knew that.

“Always.” Gou responded with the brightest grin. “Isn’t it wonderful?” 

“...Yes.” Gary admitted. “But how do you do it? How do you just...stumble across all of these amazing adventures? All these undiscovered secrets?” 

Ash looked at him confused. “How can you not? You just go out and explore. You help people where you can. You just keep traveling, and the adventure comes to you.” 

Gary chuckled. “I don’t think it’s that simple for everyone.”

Ash just shrugs. “Then not everyone is looking hard enough.” 

Gou smiles indulgently. “He’s spoiled, but he’s right. Not every adventure is a rare Pokémon or some undiscovered mystery. It’s usually something simple like a fishing contest or a day at the beach. But to us, everything is an adventure. And when you have enough adventures, you’re bound to find some rare ones. Most people...most people stay at home. They stay in one town most of their lives, even researchers. They study things from a stationary position, and that limits their growth. We don’t. We constantly travel, we never slow. When we run out of ideas in one place we go somewhere new. When we hear of something good or exciting somewhere else we go to it. We chase adventure. Not some specific goal like gym badges or one specific Pokémon, just any random adventure. That’s how we find so many rare things.”

Ash looked at Gou liked he’d just spoken the gospel truth. “Right. Like that.”

Pikachu smiled softly. 

And Gary? Gary had some thinking to do. Maybe he needed to approach his research in a different way. Also...damn it. Ash gets all the good ones. His girls didn’t hold a candle to the wonder that was this boy.

——————

Paul hadn’t seen Ash in years. He’d though about him from time to time, being one of his greatest rivals and all, but he’d had his own adventures. He’d traveled, he’d battled, he’d grown. He’d taken into consideration what the boy who stomped him at the Pokémon league had said and tried to treat his Pokémon nicer. What he hadn’t done is pay attention to international news. As such it came as a surprise that when he visited home one day, his old rival was waiting. 

“How did you even know I’d be home?” He asked, exasperated.

“I called your brother, he told me when to visit!” He said, excited. 

Paul huffed, smiling wryly. “And you’re visiting why?” 

“I want a rematch!” He said with a grin. Paul refrained from mentioning that Ash won their last match, therefore not really needing one.

Paul did a small smirk. “Fine. But prepare to be crushed.”

And he proceeded to send out Electivire. Ash, of course, sent out Pikachu.

They grin and line up, while his brother gets in place as the referee, declaring this a two vs two. The match begins with Pikachu starting off with a Quick Attack which is immediately blocked with Protect. While the Pikachu was recovering from being deflected Electivire tried to get in close with a Brick Break, but is surprised when the attack is blocked with Iron Tail. Pikachu uses his own momentum against him as he tosses him back as quickly as the attack hit his tail, pinning him with an Electro Web. Electivire uses Thunder Punch to break the web, but in that time had lost Pikachu’s placement amongst the bushes in the field. Before he could counter a Iron Tail catches him by surprise from behind. He takes a direct hit but tries to swing around to Brick Break him in response, only to miss and get an Iron Tail to the face as well. He finally grabs Pikachu and swings him around before tossing him into a nearby rock. Pikachu cringes upon impact but gets up just in time to dodge a Thunder Punch. He Quick Attack’s under the Electivire’s legs before jumping up behind him and getting another skull shot in with Iron Tail. This one knocks Electivire down, and he stays down. 

Paul blinks in surprise. The whole battle was a blur. He knew he’d improved, but obviously so had Ash, and the change was noticeable. He walked forward and withdrew his Electivire, but not without a compliment. “Good show.” He told him as he returned.

Ash grinned in delight when he heard it. Paul huffed, pretending not to notice. He then proceeded to send out Aggron. Ash’s grin widened as he stepped forward. 

Paul raised an eyebrow. “What?”

Ash grins. “It’s my turn.”

Paul blinks, eyebrows scrunching. “Yes? It’s your turn to send out a Pokémon.”

Ash’s grin, somehow, continues to widen. “I am. It’s my turn to battle. Pikachu gets to be the trainer. My turn to fight.”

Paul pauses, slowly connecting the dots. “You, yourself, are going to fight my Aggron?” 

“Yep!” Ash beams.

“Can he?” He asked his brother, eyebrow raised.

He seems just as startled. “Well...there’s really no reason he can’t, as long as he thinks he’ll be alright.”

“I’ll be fine! I’ve fought worse, no worries! This has nothing on what we had to do last week.” He says with a laugh, while Pikachu just sighs. His trainer is insane, it’s fine. He learned to roll with it years ago. He finds delight in taking on the legendaries that nearly kill them, and Pikachu just tries to be supportive. O well, at least he’s not the only one doing the fighting anymore. He grins as he gets into position.

They get ready and the referee calls the match to start. Pikachu immediately orders a Quick Attack, but unlike Ash’s strategy earlier he gets him to dash around and find a hiding place first. Ash finds cover by zipping around until Aggron and Paul loose sight of him, and then uses the chance to build up an Aura Sphere. He tosses it, and Aggron tries to dodge, but it gets him in the shoulder. Aggron then responds with Flash Cannon to which Ash gets a direct hit. Paul flinches more then Ash, thinking it was over. To his surprise though, Ash jumps right back up, even if he’s grimacing. He charges back in with a Quick Attack, using the opportunity of everyone’s shock to get in a solid Double Kick, knocking the Aggron on its rear. The Aggron gets back up quickly, using the distance to try and hit him with a Metal Claw. Ash kicks the underside of his arm instead of dodging, redirecting the attack upwards with an attack of his own. “Countershield.” He whispers, grinning, as Pikachu orders it. Aggron flinches from the damage to his arm, and Ash takes advantage of the change to get an Aura Sphere in at point blank range. It knocks the Aggron out with one hit. 

Paul blinks, dumbfounded. He then sighs, rubbing his eyebrows. “So how did you learn that?” 

“Training.” Ash responds cheerfully, doing a post battle stretch.

Paul just chuckled. “Of course you did.” He walked forward to shake hands with both of them. “I will, of course, win next time. The element of surprise won’t work forever.” 

Ash just grins. “I don’t need it to.” They part on friendly terms as Ash heads back towards the woods, just in time for Gou to catch up to him. 

“I caught a Burmy! I need three more to complete my collection!” He squints at it. “Are you male or female?” To which it proceeds to stick out its tongue. Ash just laughs as Gou pouts. He then looks up. “O right, how’d your battle go?”

“It was great, we won! He looked so surprised.” Ash snickered.

Pikachu walked by, grinning smugly. “I enjoyed it.” 

Gou just snickers. “Then we all had fun, good.”

“I didn’t. You followed me all day!” The Burmy responds with a pout.

Gou blinked, surprised. “I’ll let you go if you want you know. I don’t force anyone to stay.” 

The Burmy side eyed him before sighing. “It’s fine, I don’t really mind. Was annoying is all.” 

Gou perked up. “Will you tell me your gender now?” 

The Burmy just glared. “None of your Combee’s wax.” 

Cinderace just shrugs, because fair. If they don’t want to tell they don’t have to. 

“Right! I need one of those too before we go!” Gou says, getting side tracked. Ash snickers and proceeds to follow his boyfriend on his impulse this time.


	10. Amazing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just some little snippets of their reactions to the new episodes, and Gou figuring out his type in a show worthy level of dramatics. 
> 
> Also, I don’t ship it. I don’t care how many of you ship Lucario and Cinderace, I just can’t! This is the shield hero incident all over again. I don’t care if he acts like an adult, I just watched him hatch on screen like 20 episodes ago. It’s not happening folks!

Things had been better between Gou and Cinderace since the fight for Galar. They’d been improving gradually before it, communication and time being key, but struggling together with the weight of a nation on ones shoulders tends to help people bond. Knowing Gou had his back - had put the effort into understanding him and would help him through any fight? It had made him feel light, strong, proud. Supported. And he was right, it was nice evolving this time without any spite involved. So now, newly dubbed as Cinderace to the humans, he was feeling a bit more...cheerful. Different, but in a good way. It was nice.

He had to admit though, maybe they did have a point. When evolving, his emotional state had always felt like his decision, but he wasn’t above admitting that the change between disgruntled and ecstatic in response to life had been a bit drastic, even if he did still feel like himself. Maybe evolution did have some kind of effect on your mental state? He could see why Pikachu avoided it then, he always preferred to be in control of himself - Something about too much mind control in his life. It bothered Cinderace a bit too at times, but not enough to let this feeling go. He did enjoy being happy, and there wasn’t much to be mad about right now. He had a good trainer, supportive friends, and was steadily getting stronger with their support. He’d leave figuring out the biological effects to his trainer, he himself was content. The only thing that felt off was, well, Lucario. 

The kid had always been too serious. Cinderace had noticed that the moment he hatched. He only ever cared about one thing - getting stronger. Cinderace could appreciate that, he liked being strong too, but even in his deepest depression he’d acknowledged there were other things that mattered too. His friends, his trainer, dance, the happiness of others - enjoying life. Riolu hadn’t cared about any of these, and cared even less now that he’d evolved. He’d been too caught up in his own internal struggles as a Raboot to notice, but now that he was past that? It was concerning, to say the least. 

So he tried to work on it. Tried to cheer him up, get him to enjoy some of the little things in life. Baby steps and all that. He...didn’t take it well. Then the not-Pikachu got kidnapped, and they got tricked, and working together with him was even worse. The kid had no chill, and refused to cooperate with anyone but Ash and Pikachu willingly. Everything had turned out alright in the end, but it still felt odd. He’d have to work with him in the future. After all, there was more to life than fighting, and who better to teach him that lesson than him?

———

Gou had to attend school today. He had to go whenever there were tests and keep up in the homework or they’d expel him. Apparently those were the basic accommodations for kids wanting to go on a journey while staying in school. Pikachu wasn’t sure why he bothered. He obviously had no love for that track, and no interest in going, but he did anyway. Humans could be weird sometimes. His never bothered with that. When Ash went to school it was to one he actually wanted to attend, and when he no longer wanted to, he quit. Gou didn’t do that though. (Besides, no matter what Ash said, the human looked stupid in that uniform. Ash thinks he looks good in anything, because Ash is smitten. Pikachu wonders if love also makes him blind. Because those shorts? He doesn’t think anyone can pull those off.) 

This left them with nothing major to do, so they decided to go with Yamper on a walk. He did it on his own regularly, but it was nice to have company from time to time. Somehow though, in less than an hour, they got separated. They didn’t find him again until they were already at Gou and Koharu’s school, and caught up in a Team Rocket plot. He couldn’t help but groan. 

Since when had fighting the forces of evil become so commonplace they just slot it into their daily going-on’s? They literally couldn’t even go for a walk without something like this happening, and it was getting annoying. Though, when they got out and the battle was won, he remembered why he put up with it. He looked at Koharu and the little Eevee, so happy and content together, something that would have never happened without Yamper wandering off and this chaos happening. Fighting the insanity always seemed to end with happy people, and he couldn’t bring himself to be mad at that. 

———

Ash stared at his boyfriend in absolute wonder. During the battle he hadn’t had time to think about it. His mind was in fight mode. Defeat and distract the enemies, find time to recover, go in for round two. Protect Gou, protect the legendary. At this point it was instinct, a course of habit, something they did as easy as breathing. The fact Lucario fell into their rhythm so easily was honestly pleasing, but once again he hadn’t had time to think on it. Now though? Now that the villains were defeated, his partners were safe, and the legendary was fine? Now he could stare in wonder at his amazing boyfriend. His boyfriend who had the honor and integrity to try and release a legendary, despite obviously wanting to keep them close. His boyfriend who had managed to bond so closely with that legendary that they decided to stay as part of his team, even if they weren’t always around. 

When Suicune disappeared and Gou smiled happily, assured in their continued presence, Ash turned to his boyfriend in absolute awe. “You’re amazing, you know that, right?”

Gou startled, looking at him. “What?” 

“You’re amazing. You just saved the life of a living legend and bonded with him so much he now considers you his trainer.” 

Gou, now blushing, only responded with a raised eyebrow. “Ash, Solgaleo calls you dad. You’re on speaking terms with most major legendaries, including that one. I don’t think me making friends is that big of an accomplishment.” 

Ash grabs his hands, face determined. “Of course it is. You’re wonderful, and your new friend sees that. My life doesn’t make yours any less impressive.” 

Gou was still disbelieving, personally thinking his boyfriend was the most amazing person to ever live, but he let it slide. Seeing him make this new friend seemed to make his boyfriend happy, so that was all that mattered. Besides, it wasn’t like he wasn’t proud of it. He knew he was amazing, it was nice to have a boyfriend that realized that too. No one else’s opinion mattered but their own.

———

Gou had never been popular at school. He’d been deemed a know-it-all pretty young, and was ostracized over it. He’d overcompensated a bit, getting bigger and bolder with time to cover for the lack of social support. He was pretty amazing after all, he didn’t need them to tell him that for him to know it was true. Koharu never told him that, but she did stick around, and he appreciated that. He liked having friends, but had never been great at making them, so he appreciated the ones who stayed. The...Tokio incident didn’t help with that. 

Then Ash came along, and Ash stayed, and Ash became so much more then a friend. And Ash told him all the things he’d always had to tell himself, and it made them feel so much more real then his boasting ever had. He didn’t need it to be proud, but he wasn’t about to refuse support either. It made all his hard work and effort feel appreciated, and he loved him for it. And Ash loved him back, which -screw icing- was like doubling the size of the cake. Everything was perfect, for once in his life. And as they went on adventures, and learned and grew, he hoped this feeling would always last.

———

Gou had been feeling antsy all day, but he wasn’t sure why. They were up on Mt. Coronet, searching for some plateau Ash insists Dialga and Palkia regularly appear at. Especially Dialga, because apparently steel types love this place. Gou kinda got that. Everything felt alive, energized. Everything had this pretty purple hue, and though they’d seen plenty of pretty places, this one felt nice. 

He still felt antsy though, like he was forgetting something important. He was so distracted in his thoughts he didn’t notice the loose ground he’d stepped on, and with a stumble found himself in a four hundred foot free fall. Ash, the self sacrificing idiot, jumped off the cliff after him instead of calling out the flying type Gou knew he had. Gou had one too, knew he did, knew he could call on it as well. But in the moment he was panicking, spread himself out to decrease speed so Ash would catch up in his nose dive, and then clung to him for dear life. He didn’t want to fall, he didn’t want to fall, he didn’t want to-

It took him a moment to peak his eyes open and notice they’d stopped falling. Everything felt- repulsive. Not in a bad way, but like there was a literal repelling force acting against them. Or him he supposed, as he clung to Ash tighter to keep him from falling, realizing the force wasn’t affecting him. So it was just him. Why was it just him? Why was it repelling-

“Magnets.” He whispers, eyes glistening with excitement as he caught on. 

“What?” Ash asked in surprise, just now noticing they were no longer falling. 

“This whole place, it’s made up of magnets.” He says in awe, glancing around, seeing Pikachu and Cinderace looking down at them in surprise from the cliff side they’d just fallen off of. “Steel types are able to manipulate their own magnetic pull, giving them an advantage in a place like this. No wonder they - I - love it.” He grinned. “I’ve felt weird all day, but I couldn’t place it. It’s the magnets though!” Ash expression was one of slow realization, so Gou pulled him close, pressing their foreheads together with a grin. “I’m a steel type!” 

“That’s wonderful!” Ash said in delight, hugging his boyfriend closer. After a minute he pulled back to ask. “Does that mean you can get us back up there?” 

Gou blinked, surprised. He looked down at the three hundred foot drop still below them. “I don’t know.” He admitted, feeling out the pull. “There are a lot of magnets though.” So he tried to push, push harder against the force he felt. And with that push, they shot up a few feet. “Well what do you know.” He said with a grin, enjoying his boyfriend’s laughter as he bit by bit pushed them back up. When they arrived back at the ledge their Pokémon were relieved, and he found out that the only reason Pikachu hadn’t been in free fall too is that Cinderace held him back. While they joked and bantered over that, Gou was honestly still in shock, grinning stupidly. He was a steel type, huh? The world never ceases to amaze.


	11. Luvdisc Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is just a short snippet for the upcoming holiday. How Ash and Gou spend a romantic holiday, featuring special guests such as Gou’s jackass classmates. I have...theories as to why he grew up with only one friend. 
> 
> On a side note, I am nowhere near Gou in this story part. Everyone learns differently, and I actually do better with an oral lesson than a textbook. I can ask a teacher questions after all if I’m in a classroom. Still, some people do learn like this, I have a brother who does, so I’m trying to emulate that experience and how people sometimes respond when someone does better then them at school, especially when they aren’t meek about it. Have fun!

In any other universe it would be weird to say, but romantic relationships aren’t common in the Pokémon world. Having kids? Sure. People had urges and all that, and children tended to be a result of such behavior. (The parent who wanted the kid the most tended to raise them, the other popping in from time to time if they wanted to. Or not, sometimes, like in Ash’s situation. Being involved in your children’s life was not a genetic incentive, nor a social one.) 

But romance? Not really. The two person family was never pushed, so people didn’t stay together just because they had a kid. So in general, when you met a couple, they were actually a pretty good couple. Unhealthy relationships ended pretty quickly after all. 

Gou’s parents? Wonderful couple, always together, always supportive. Koharu’s parents? Wonderful couple, encouraged each other’s passions, stayed together through thick and thin. Ash’s parents? Not cut out for it, and there were no hard feelings when his dad left while he was still an egg. Sometimes it just didn’t work out. Life was like that sometimes.

Still, there was a holiday to celebrate such rare relationships, and lucky Gou there was a test three days before it. He had been prepping for it actually, he had this big adventure planned for just the two of them. Even the Pokémon were staying behind! They were strong enough at this point, especially Ash, that they could take care of themselves for a little woodland adventure. 

Before that though, he had a test to pass. So with a heavy sigh he marched to school beside Koharu, ready to have it over with. The test was pretty easy. He’d spent so much of his childhood buried in books, he’d never had an issue with school. He’d always hated school for the same reason though. It was boring to him. He’d already read all of what they taught him in the books, why did he need a teacher to retell it to him? Still, his parents wanted him to get an education, as did Koharu. No one had ever discouraged his dreams, but they all insisted he at least stay in school part time. So he did. As such, here he was, another test complete, waiting on his classmates to catch up as always. Koharu wasn’t even in this class, so he didn’t even have someone to pass notes with to kill time. 

When all was finished, he was about ready to leave when the mention of Luvdisc Day prep caught his ear. 

“So if any of you have a special someone, you can order a flower to be subtly delivered to their locker during classes. No in class deliveries, it’s both rude to other students and disruptive, understand?” He blinked in surprise, but knew he had to wait. He waited until the teacher was finished and the bell had rung to ask.

“Flowers are a symbol of romance?” 

Some of the kids snort. “Duh, smarty pants. How do you of all people not know that?” 

Gou just shrugged. “I never cared before now, it had no application to me to look up courtship methods. I wasn’t exactly intending to pursue romance around my goals, after all.” 

“Like you do now?” Another one snorted.

Gou furrowed his brow. “Well obviously now I do. My boyfriend would be rather disgruntled if I refused to claim him. Though I don’t think he’d care much for flowers, too flimsy.” 

He now had everyone’s attention riveted on him. “You. Have a boyfriend.” One of the girls asked, disbelieving.

“Yes?” He asks back, confused. Why did they all seem so surprised?

“Who could possibly put up with your uppity ass?” Ah, so it was going to be one of those days, huh. 

“Someone much better than any of you.” Gou says with a humph, standing up to leave, bag already prepped. Some of the others tried to block his exit, including one particularly hostile girl.

“What, you think you’re better then us?” She asks, growling, shoving a hand against his chest. 

Gou sniffed, raising his nose. “Given your current behavior? Obviously. What kind of brute goes into a peaceful classroom discussion with violence on the brain?” 

“How dare you-“ she squawked, raising a hand, and was surprised when he caught it like it was nothing. A couple others tried to get a hit in, but he dodged them like it was nothing.

He just humphed again. “Is this really all you can do? I’ve dealt with worse from freshly hatched Pokémon.” In everyone’s defense, Riolu was a pretty dangerous hatchling. 

This riled them up even further, and it was beginning to look like an actual brawl was going to break out. So with a sigh Gou just backed up, opened a window as they stared in confusion, and jumped. He heard screams of fear and confusion as he fell. After all, their classroom was on the third floor this time. He didn’t really fear heights much these days though. 

As he got close to ground level he release a magnetic pulse, which repelled again the earths natural one and kept him afloat for a few seconds. He then dropped safely to the ground, before glancing back at his classmates above. Most were in shock, but the angry girl got herself together enough to shout, “Freak!” He just huffed before turning away. They really weren’t worth his time. Besides, he’d just executed an amazingly accurate propulsion, if he did say so himself.

Besides, fuck them. He didn’t need their opinions. He had a wonderful boyfriend and a beautiful Luvdisc Day date planned. 

———

Luvdisc Day arrived with little fanfare. He’d requested in advance that Pikachu and Cinderace stay behind, and preferably keep their more wild or shy teammates company. He’d planned a trip for them to the Safari Zone, particularly the new habitat he hadn’t told Ash about yet. It was a great time overall. Hours of them just fighting Pokémon and him catching them, and there were no rules against humans using moves (hah!). He had a feeling that would change after their presentation this month, but he was taking advantage of it for now. 

Finally, after hours of them spending time together, dinner was approaching. They had food prepackaged in their backpacks, but he had somewhere specific he wanted them to enjoy it. “Follow me!” He shouted, running ahead.

Ash followed, grinning, never once questioning him. He trusted his boyfriend after all, and knew he’d have fun with whatever he’d planned. And he did. What Gou had planned was a beautiful dinner right as the sun set surrounded by the Morelull and Shiinotic that had recently been imported to the Kanto region, their glow illuminating the area. There was some plan of some kind for energy diversity that went right over Ash’s head, but the main point was that they were now surrounded by pretty Pokémon with food to eat and then Pokémon to catch once finished. He couldn’t think of a better Luvdisc Day.


	12. The Exhibition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I believe someone asked for the exhibition? Well lo and behold, it’s finally here! Time to wow the world with what they’ve learned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! It took me ages to get this one organized and out, I’ve been dwelling on it for a while.
> 
> Next chapter will be their friends reactions -both to the exhibition and their new relationship- especially a few of Ash’s old traveling companions.

Gou grinned, the adrenaline rushing through his veins. Three months. In three months they’d gone from just meeting each other to this. In three months they’d made a lifetimes worth of discoveries, and here they were, at their first Exhibition. It had taken him ages around their new adventures to solidify what order and how they would be presenting their discoveries, but everything was finally prepped, so here they were.

There was a crowd filing into the auditorium they’d rented for this. It was huge, almost a stadium given the size of the stage and the circular seating going out from it. They needed it that large for their performance. 

The Professors had done the advertising for them. Not just Professor Cerise, but Professor Oak, Professor Kukui, and quite a few others Ash knew. Upon being told what they were doing, they’d gone hog wild advertising this event. As a result, the auditorium was packed, thousands of people shoving in for a seat, many even standing around the edges of the aisles. 

If they ever do this again, they’ll need a bigger auditorium. Gou waited impatiently as everyone got seated, watching the clock tick down. He glanced over to his boyfriend, just as jittery as he, as Ash watched old and new friends alike pile in and find seating. Gou had encouraged him to invite his friends; thankfully, as Ash hadn’t even thought of it. Ash adored the idea though, and as such, the audience now had everyone from his Alolan classmates to some traveling coordinators he’d told him about. 

The clock was two minutes out from five and Gou grinned, climbing the scaffolding around the stage to get into position beside Ash. The moment the clock struck five they both grinned before dropping to the stage fifty feet below. Ash just flat out landed, glancing at the gobsmacked audience as the music played. Gou floated down slower, polarizing his own magnetic pull against the magnetic pull of the earth. 

This was supposed to be the first demonstration; a compare and contrast of sorts. Ash was showing off how sturdy such a high level human was; Gou was showing off his typings ability, as the blatant disregard for the laws of physics demonstrated. By not falling at the same speed as Ash, he made it obvious a different force besides just gravity was at play.

“Hello and welcome everyone! Thank you all for attending our first exhibition! I’m Gou and this is Ash, and together with our Pokemon we’ve got quite the treat for you all tonight!” Most of the audience seemed stunned, but some actually seemed annoyed. Gou’s grin turned sharp. If they thought they were faking, they were in for a surprise. 

He turned to his excited boyfriend, who Pikachu had now appeared beside. Ash was wearing a special outfit just for this, a more formal blue and white version of his usual battle outfit his mother had made him. Pikachu was also wearing a personalized collar, something nice for the event, that matched Ash’s outfit. Gou had just worn a nice suit. “If you’re wondering why we picked such a large stage for an educational panel, it’s because we need a demonstration of our studies. Ash and Twinkle here will be giving a demonstration of their abilities.” He stepped back out of the now very obvious boundary lines while the audience now realized what was happening as the two others got into position. “I’ll be playing referee for this match. So with that in mind, please enjoy our opening performance! Battle start!” 

And they were off. Ash took the initiative, going for a Quick Attack. Pikachu dodged by doing the same, jumping over Ash. He tried to come from above with an Iron Tail, but Ash was quick to turn and grab it by the base and toss him away. He landed on his feet just as Ash tried to rush him, coming at him with a Double Kick. Pikachu was quick to dodge, jumping back out of legs length. (Normally Ash would have destroyed the field with that move to limit his movements, but they’d both been asked in advance to please not destroy the stage.) Pikachu threw a huge Electronet at him, which was large enough Ash couldn’t dodge. He got pinned to the ground and shocked for a moment before charging an Aura Sphere to break the net. He then charged another one and started throwing them at Pikachu. (The area around them is somewhat reinforced for this performance. It can withstand a projectile move, but a direct physical attack with intent to destroy? Not so much.) he got five off successively before Pikachu came at him again, knowing his human was reaching the limit of how many he could charge at once. He charged in right as Ash lapsed, hitting him with an Iron Tail right in the chest. Ash was thrown backwards, bouncing across the floor for a moment before jumping to his feet again, pretty battered. 

Gou would be worried if it wasn’t for the ecstatic grin on both of their faces. They were enjoying this; They always did. Battling each other was one of their favorite past times now. No one else who lived with them was quite so heavily trained, nor did anyone else know their movements so thoroughly. Everything they knew how to do they’d learned together, so there really was no better opponent then their own partner. They thrived off that challenge. 

Pikachu took this opportunity to fire off a pretty massive Thunderbolt, to which Ash didn’t even bother to dodge. He grit his teeth and charged through it, hitting Pikachu with a pretty solid Double Kick when he got close. Pikachu flew so far he hit the back wall, before getting back up with a grin. Pikachu came charging at him again, and it became a dance for a minute. Attack and dodge, attack and dodge. The sparring went on for a bit until Ash landed a pretty solid kick, launching Pikachu pretty high into the air. He realized his mistake a second too late, and couldn’t get out of range before Pikachu used the momentum of the fall to Iron Tail him on the head. He hit the ground with a resounding thud. 

Gou stepped out cautiously, glancing down at his very disoriented looking boyfriend. “...aaaaand Ash is unable to battle, Twinkle wins!” Pikachu grinned for a moment before strolling over, collapsing beside his trainer with a happy sigh. Ash came to a moment later, patting Pikachu’s head before standing up with a grunt, Pikachu comfortably perched on his shoulder. 

“Nice hit.” He mumbled, rubbing his head. 

“I wouldn’t have gotten it in if you hadn’t thrown me up. You know better, that was your strategy.” Pikachu responded as he nuzzled his cheek.

Ash laughed. “Wasn’t thinking in the moment, was just trying to get the upper hand in the spar. It got you far enough away that I could’ve used Aura Sphere if I hadn’t thrown you up, but I didn’t get to before you came down. It’s hard to think in the moment.”

Pikachu grinned, nuzzling again. “You’re getting better every time.”

The audience, and Gou, had remained silent to watch the display. The audience was in awe; Gou was smitten. Watching these two battle was watching them truly be themselves; he was always left with a warm heart afterwards. 

Once they’d stopped chatting and gotten themselves together again, Gou started back up. He pushed a button on the remote he had set everything up to and lowered a projector screen directly behind them. “That was about as perfect of an intro as I could have hoped for, thanks you two!” They both grinned, giving him a thumbs up. He turned back to the audience. “Now, there’s a few things to note from what just happened. The first is the Pokémon moves. In this battle Ash used three moves. Quick Attack, Double Kick, and Aura Sphere. Two of those could be excused as just being strong or fast, as many humans do when they develop a normal or fighting type move. The third can’t. It is an explicit projectile move, and a rather flashy one. The question you’re probably wondering is how he can use it?” He grinned at the awed audience, many outright leaning forwards in excitement. “It’s because they’re Pokemon moves. We are Pokemon, after all.” The murmurs began but he cut them off and continued. “I know, I know. It sounds odd. But trust me when I say, we have some pretty reliable sources.” He pulled up a video he’d taken on their next trip to see Mew, after Olympia had evolved.

“So explain it to me like you did for Ash. What are humans?” His recorded voice asked from behind the camera. The Mew blinked once, before giggling. He then responded in perfect human speech. 

“Pokemon. Humans are Pokémon. You can use moves like Pokémon, you reproduce like Pokémon, you evolve like Pokémon. You’re all descendant from my line actually, from the other Mews reproducing. Honestly, how did you all forget this?” 

Gou had shrugged at the time, looking sheepish. “I’ve no clue. I guess when we started acting different and developed a different type of language we started thinking of ourselves differently. Honestly I’m going to need to do more research into that myself.” 

Mew had smiled at the camera at that. “I’d go ask Uxie. If anyone would know how we got here, it’d be them.” 

Gou cut the clip off, starting in again. “That Mew is the guardian of the Tree of Beginning. It’s a very strange rock formation native to Kanto inside of which lives a vast array of Pokémon. It’s also one of the few places in the world that Humans can evolve. That Mew has been guarding and assisting in said evolutions for millions of years. No one, absolutely no one, would be a better authority on how it works. Well, except one person.” 

He then proceeded to play their recording from when they met Arceus. By the end of it most of the audience was gaping, but some were looking at Ash with a dawning sort of awe. Good. His boyfriend deserved that respect. He also noticed some grins, proud and strong. It really was easy to sort out where his friends were in the audience.

“So there you have it. That’s how our evolution works and what the marks mean. That’s the confirmation for the fact that none of this is new. This is all lost information, things humans used to know but had forgotten from lack of proper records and disuse of the information. As for if we can still do it...” He then proceeded to play Olympia’s evolution battle, stopping right after she evolves and Mew congratulates her. “We have at least one positive result. As most humans, not even Ash here, are high enough level to evolve we only had time to find one example. Not to mention that just because someone is, doesn’t mean they want to. In the future I’m hoping for more to come forward wanting to evolve after finding this out, so we can get more data on what happens. Humans come in a variety of types, having a large number of regional variants, so how one evolves may not be the same for another.” Gou says as he switches screens again. 

This one throws everyone, as instead of a picture or video, it’s a large amount of text. Words are lined up in human then in...Pikachu? “Now onto the next bit you might have noticed; them holding a full conversation after that battle. Ash can talk to Pokémon. It’s not some innate psychic power like some people have. No, Ash sat down with Pikachu here and step by step sorted out how the syllables and enunciation play into a Pokémon’s dialogue. I’m not going into fine detail on this discovery during this presentation, as in my own pursuit of learning this language I wrote an entire book detailing the entire process. That book includes pages of  
direct translation and explanation for how to enunciate your wording, and will be available for purchase after this. In summary though, It’s not just the syllables that matter to Pokémon speaking, as they have a limited selection to work with. The pronunciation, enunciation, and pitch all play into how they talk.” 

Jaws were dropping as he switched slides again, realizing he wasn’t done. Gou chuckled at their reaction. “Don’t worry, I’m nearly finished. This ones more of a good note to end on.” On screen wasn’t some giant legendary or masterful display of battle prowess. It was just a scene inside Cerise Park. It was carefully shot and slow moving, obviously not from the same recorder as the others. That became more apparent as the people it was recording appeared. It was Ash, Gou, Cinderace, Lucario, Pikachu, and Sobble. They were playing around. Ash had tossed Gou up in the air so he could practice his magnetic pull. Ash, Cinderace, and Lucario were on catch duty. Pikachu was running around them watching with Sobble perched on his back. When he came down too fast one time, Ash stumbled in catching him and they all wound up in a pile on the ground from trying to break his fall. After a moment to regain their bearings they all burst out laughing. Chloe smiled softly from the audience as she remember recording that scene. 

Gou’s eyes were soft as well from remembering it. “The entire point of this presentation is evident in that clip. That? Was us just being ourselves with our Pokémon. Because we can. Pokémon are just as smart and just as strong as us, and vice versa. We’re all one big species. And as for us personally?” He asked, motioning to the screen. “We’re all one big family. I’d like you all to come away from this presentation with a better understanding of the people you interact with on a regular basis, because it’s time we start actually treating them as people. We’ve always been in this together, it’s time we start acting like it.” 

And with that the three of them did a bow before a curtain lowered, blocking them off from the now roaring audience. They could hear the applause loud and clear through the curtain, and the minute they were out of view Ash picked him up and spun him, adrenaline still pumping.

“We did it!” He shouted in delight, grinning up at his partner.

Gou just laughed, grinning down. “We did.” He said breathlessly, leaning in for a kiss. They kissed for a moment before a throat clearing nearby caused them to look up. 

Cinderace stood there, smiling. “Not that this isn’t sweet and all, but your friends are waiting outside for you. Don’t you have an after party to attend?” 

They blinked before separating. Honestly they’d forgotten all about it in the excitement. After he processed it though, Ash perked back up. “Right! I invited like, everyone, didn’t I?” He grabbed Gou’s arm, ecstatic. “Let’s go! I have so many people I want you to meet!” Gou just laughed, following along. Honestly, could this day get any better? 

———

Turns out it could. So, he’d known his boyfriend was pretty famous, but knowing and seeing were two different things. There were so many gym leaders. Like, entire regions worth of gym leaders. And frontier brains. And elite four. And other champions. Cynthia in particularly was ecstatic, coming up and squeezing them like they’d solved the mystery of life. Wait a minute, they did, didn’t they?

“You two- you’re wonderful, you know that?” She asked with a laugh, before pulling back her sleeve to reveal blackish-purple markings. “I’ve been agonizing over these for years! I had no idea what they were, and my research wasn’t going anywhere. How’d you find it out so quick?” She asked, breathless.

Ash shrugged. “We just asked. Gou made sure to record it.” 

Gou smiled. The hug from a stranger was a little weird, but he did appreciate the support. And obviously Ash knew her. 

She just shook her head. “Only you. Honestly, thank you. I’m definitely reading that book too. Me and Garchomp have always been close, but actually being able to understand what he’s saying would be lovely.” 

Gou grinned at that. “It’s all thanks to Ash, I would never have figured it out on my own.”

“Hey!” He pitched in, spinning towards his boyfriend. “Don’t give me all the credit! I couldn’t even explain it to my friends, let alone figure out how to write it down! It would have just stayed with me without Gou’s support!” He responded, slinging an arm over his boyfriends shoulders.

Cynthia just chuckled. “Well I’m grateful to both of you, and your Pokémon as well. Everything’s going to be better after this, I just know it.”

The evening proceeded pretty similarly to this. They were showered in praise by both strangers and friends alike. Ash’s old traveling companions came and went throughout the night, giving compliments and support. It was wonderful, and Gou had never felt so loved, but honestly it was overwhelming. By the time they got back to their room that night he was ready to collapse, and they both passed out on the bottom bunk together. 

No words needed spoken right then. They just grinned and held each other close as they passed out, the adrenaline finally wearing off. Cinderace just smiled as he pulled the blanket over them, before jumping onto the top bunk for the night. Pikachu actually joined him for once, settling at his side. 

He looked over the edge at their trainers.

“You know, I never paid any mind to how amazing the things we did were.” He mentioned as he sat back and rested his head on his paws. 

Cinderace looked at him with a raised brow, incredulous. “How could you not?” 

Pikachu shrugged. “Too much going on at any one moment. For the first three years we were always traveling. He had this big goal, and I wanted to support him. The parameters weren’t exactly well defined, but he knew what he wanted to do to reach it, so that’s all that mattered. I didn’t care about anyone else’s opinions and neither did he. So if we saved the world or fought a legend for our goal, it didn’t really matter, because it didn’t matter to us.” He rolled over at this, glancing towards Cinderace who looked unsure what to say. “Then after we got a lesson or two beat into our head about enjoying life, we took some time to rest up in Alola. And it was nice, not having to travel for a bit. Honestly more insane stuff happened when we stayed still there then did when we were traveling the world.” He snorted at that realization. “And we got another kid to raise. Honestly, I can count on one paw the number of months there wasn’t at least one baby somewhere in our traveling group. We’ve raised soooo many kids. So I guess we just never had time to dwell on how rare this all was. It doesn’t really make a difference if we do or not, right?”

Cinderace snorted at that. “I suppose not. You don’t have much of an ego after all, and I appreciate that. My trainer has enough for all of us.” They grin at that. It’s not a bad thing. “Still, as long as you know that you’re important, and that people care about you, I suppose there’s no reason to dwell on how amazing your actions are. Anything of value Gou will write down, and everything else is just life. We should enjoy living it, not dwell on it, right?” 

Pikachu grinned. “Exactly.” And at that they settled in to sleep as well.


End file.
